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THE 



LIFE AND TIMES 



THOMAS WILSON DORR, 



§fc "WITH 



/• 



OUTLINES OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY 



OF 



RHODE ISLAND. 



BY DAN KING. 



Truth shall restore the light by nature given, 
And, like Prometheus, bring the fire of heaven I 
Prone to the dust Oppression shall be hurled, 
Her name, her nature, withered from the world ! 

Campbell's Downfall of Poland. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOK 

1859. 




K^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the j^ear 1859, by 

DAN KING, 

In the Clerk's Ofiice of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



E T, K 'r R T Y P E T) AT THE 
BOSTON S T K R iO T Y P E FOUNDRY. 



PREFACE. 



The following work is intended to correct some 
of the prominent mistakes wliich are found to 
prevail in regard to the character of that political 
controversy which took place in Rhode Island in 
1841-2. Although some may be of opinion that it is 
too soon to give that history to the public, and the 
day may be far distant when it can be written or 
read without prejudice, yet the author believes that 
no good cause will suffer by investigation ; that it 
can never be too soon to correct errors and mistakes ; 
that national freedom can only be maintained by 
the proper diffusion of knowledge, and that in every 
popular government the respective rights of the people 
and of their government should be clearly defined 
and distinctly understood. If popular sovereignty 
is to be regarded as any thing more than an empty 
name — if it is in reality the fundamental principle 

(5) 



6 PREFACE. 

of all free institutions — it should never be lost sight 
of, but should be constantly watched as the polar star 
of civil liberty. 

The vf^riter is conscious of the perilous position which 
he has assumed ; he knows full well the intensity of 
those fires which that controversy enkindled, and is 
aware that beneath their sleeping ashes there may be 
livid coals which will glow again as soon as stirred. 
He has no desire to provoke anew those angry feelings 
which raged with so much fury during the period in 
question : yet, in obedience to his own convictions of 
truth and justice, he has plainly and fearlessly made 
known his own sentiments respecting that contro- 
versy and the character of its master spirit — Thomas 
Wilson Doer. 

Taunton, April 1, 1859, 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

Pack 

The Early History of the Government of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations. U 



CHAPTER II. 

The Abrogation of the Royal Charter by the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. — Its Defects and practical Injustice, and Efforts of 
the People to bring about a Change 19 



CHAPTER III. 

Proceedings of the People in Forming and Adopting a Constitu- 
tion 34 



CHAPTER IV. 

Landholders' Constitution formed and rejected. — Proceedings 
of the General Assembly. — The Right of the People to form 
Constitutions considered, and Authorities quoted. . . .54 

CHAPTER V. 

The Algerine Act. — Application to the President of the United 
States for Troops. — Correspondence between the President 
and Governor I^ingand others. — Mr. Dorr's Election. — His 

Message, &c .64 

(7) 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAtra 

Reasons for believing the Charter Government to be held by a 
^^linority. — The Neglect of the People's Legislature to take 
Possession of the Public Property, and its Consequences con- 
sidered. — An Extract from the Journal of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, . 97 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Right of the Charter Government to hold out against the 
People considered. — Causes of Complaint set forth, &c. — 
Confidential Letter from President Tyler 119 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Mr. Dorr's Visit to Washington and New York. — His Return to 
Providence. — Attack upon the Arsenal. .... 125 

CHAPTER IX. 

Martial Law. — Gov. King's Proclamation. — Gov. Dorr's Return 
and Proclamations. — Outrages committed under the Pretext 
of Martial Law 131 

CHAPTER X. 

Mr. Dorr's Retiu-n. — Proclamation. — Dismisses his Men, and 
leaves the State. — Proceedings of Charter Troops. — Ai*rests 
and Imprisonment of Suffrage Men 1^1 



CHAPTER XI. 



Martial Law. 



176 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Pagb 

Commissioners appointed to examine the Prisoners. — Proceed- 
ixigs. — Measures taken to form another Constitution. — Con- 
dition of the People at the time. — Constitution declared 
adopted. 182 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Mr. Dorr's Return. — His Arrest and Imprisonment. -- Trial. — 
Conviction. — Speech. — Sentence. — Removal to State Prison. 189 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Reflections. , . 215 

CHAPTER XV. 

Resolutions of New Hampshire and Maine concerning Mr. Dorr. 224 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Report of a Committee of the House of Representatives in the 
Congress of the United States. -- Also, Speech of Hon. Mr. 
Allen, of Ohio 230 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Propositions for the Release of Mr. Dorr, on Condition that he 
win engage to support the existing Constitution. — He refuses, 
and is afterwards set at Liberty by an Act of General Am- 
nesty. — Rejoicings and Congratulations, &c 266 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Pagb 

All Act of the Rhode Island Legislature to reverse and annul 
the Judgment of the Supreme Court against Mr. Dorr. . . 280 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Sketch of Mr. Dorr's Life 284 



APPENDIX. 

Charter of 1643, granted under the Authority of Parliament. . 295 

Charter granted by King Charles H 298 

Constitution of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations, adopted by the People December 27th, 28th, and 29th, 
1841 317 

Constitution of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions, adopted November, 1842 346 



THE 



LIFE AND TIMES 



OP 



THOMAS WILSON DOER 



CHAPTER I. 

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF RHODE 
ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 

Seventeen years have sped their hasty round since 
the crisis of the great political controversy in Rhode 
Island, and we have reason to hope that the stormy 
passions which that occasion generated have in a great 
measure subsided. Many of the principal actors in 
those trying scenes have since passed away ; the boy 
who then lay in his cradle has now become a man, and 
almost an entire new generation has come upon the 
stage. We have no desire unnecessarily to stir up 
again the smouldering fires, or to rekindle that angry 
spirit which raged with so much fury in that eventful 
period ; but it is hoped now, when time has so far 
quieted the passions and mellowed the feelings, when a 

(11) 



13 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

sufficient period has been allowed for the exercise of 
that sober second thought which finally approves of 
the right and condemns the wrong, we may safely 
" submit the facts to a candid world." But if we are 
mistaken — if it is yet too soon — there is still one conso- 
lation left, and that is, that the time will some day come, 
when all the prejudice, and interest, and passion that 
were developed on that occasion shall have wholly 
passed away, and nothing but stubborn facts, in all their 
nakedness, shall imprint their undying images on the 
page of history. Time will eventually sweep away 
every minor interest, and every sinister motive, cool 
every passion, and hush in perpetual silence every 
angry feeling. Let the present time be thought too 
soon or too late, the day of assize will assuredly come, 
and posterity will pass its stern decrees upon all acts 
that history shall bring before that tribunal. 

The history of Thomas Wilson Dour and his times 
involves some of the most important principles of civil 
government. The question is not simply whether Mr. 
Dorr acted wisely or unwisely, nor whether he and his 
associates were patriots or felons, but whether the 
motives by which they were actuated were in accordance 
with the great principles of American democracy. In 
order to have a correct and thorough understanding of 
the subject, we must go back and make ourselves ac- 
quainted with the early history of Rhode Island, and 
the doctrines held by its founders. We must take into 
consideration the inherent, inahenable natural rights of 
man, and the purposes for which governments are 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 13 

instituted. We must notice the circumstances under 
which the government of Ehode Island came into ex- 
istence, and trace its history down to the period in 
question. 

Let it not be supposed that the great problem that 
we are to solve has respect only to those few individu- 
als who were actively engaged in the controversy, or 
that it is confined to the territory of Ehode Island, or 
to any number of states, or even the United States. It 
involves the principles of popular sovereignty — the right 
of the people themselves, in their own time, and in 
their own way, to set up a new government or change 
an old one. This is the most grave of all political 
questions, and deserves to be well considered by every 
American citizen ; its importance cannot be confined to 
any age or country, but it must concern all men through- 
out all time. The first settlers of the American colo- 
nies repudiated the aristocratic doctrines of the mother 
country, and held that the people should be considered 
as the true source of all civil power. This principle is 
fully developed in the early history of Khode Island. 
Perhaps no' man ever entertained more liberal views of 
civil and religious freedom than Koger Williams ; and 
for the sole purpose of enjoying that freedom, he and 
his associates planted their infant colony upon the bor- 
ders of Narragansett Bay. Here they sought to estab- 
lish and perpetuate the true principles of rational liber- 
ty. The settlement was commenced in 1636, and 
the following is one of their earliest records : — 

"We, whose names are hereunder, desirous to 
inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to 
2 



14 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

subject ourselves, in active or passive obedience, to all 
such orders or agreements as shall be made for public 
good of the body in an orderly way, by the major as- 
sent of the present inhabitants, masters of families, 
incorporated together into a town-fellowship, and such 
others whom they shall admit unto them, only in civil 
thinsifs." 

o 

This compact plainly indicates their civil and reli- 
gious sentiments. They declared that in all civil things 
the majority should govern, but left everyone at liberty 
to follow the dictates of his own conscience in all mat- 
ters of religion. About the year 163T, another settle- 
ment was commenced on the Island of Ehode Island by 
a Mr. Coddington and his associates. Among their 
early records it appears that, " At a General Court of 
Elections, it was ordered and unanimously agreed, that 
this government was a democracy, or popular govern- 
ment, and that the power to make laws and depute 
magistrates to execute them, was in the body of free- 
men, orderly assembled, or a major part of them." 

Smarting with the rigor of Puritan intolerance, they 
became extremely anxious to guard their own colony 
against any encroachments upon their religious free- 
dom ; therefore, in 1638, it was ordered by the Gen- 
eral Court, " None shall be received as inhabitants or 
freemen, to build or plant upon the island, but such as 
shall be received in, by consent of the body, and do 
submit to the government that is or shall be established 
according to the word of God." 

It is obvious that the sole purpose for which this 
order was made was to exclude from that community 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 15 

all "vvho were not supporters of their own doctrine of 
religious liberty. Freedom of opinion in all matters 
of conscience was made the test ; no other qualification 
was required. 

In 1644, the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, and 
Newport, which had thus far been separate settlements 
or townships, were united under one government, by a 
charter which Roger Williams, through the aid of Sir 
Henry Vane, obtained from the Parliament under the 
Commonwealth of England. This charter conferred 
upon the inhabitants " full power and authority to gov- 
ern and rule themselves, by such a form of civil gov- 
ernment as, by voluntary consent of all or the greatest 
part of them, shall be found most serviceable in their 
estates and condition " — provided such form of civil 
government " be conformable to the laws of England, 
so far as the nature and constitution of the place will 
admit." 

This charter, which will be found in the Appendix, 
No. 1, left the colonists free to maintain their principles 
of religious liberty, and by an early act of their General 
Court, it was ordered that *^ all men may walk as their 
consciences persuade them, every one in the name of 
his God." Bancroft, describing the condition of Rhode 
Island under the first charter, says, " All men were 
equal ; all might meet in the public assemblies ; all 
might aspire to office ; the people for a season consti- 
tuted its own tribune, and every public law required 
confirmation in the primaiy assemblies. The govern- 
ment of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations con- 
tinued under this charter until 1663, when the inhab- 



16 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

itants of the colony, fearing that a commission which 
had been obtained from Cromwell's Parliament, whilst 
Charles II. was in exile, might not be respected by 
him on his return to the throne, petitioned the King, 
and at length, through the agency of Mr. John Clarke, 
obtained a new charter, having the broad seal of the 
crown, and the signature of the secretary affixed. For 
this second charter, see No. 2 of the Appendix. 

On looking over the early history of Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations, we find that, at first, two 
little distinct democratic communities were established, 
one at Providence, and the other on the Island of 
Ehode Island. In a few years we find that by consent 
of a majority of the inhabitants in .both settlements, 
without ceremony or form of law, the two colonies 
were merged in one, under a British charter, in con- 
formity to which a government was organized and con- 
tinued until about the year 1663. Then, again, a por- 
tion of the inhabitants, without any legal forms or pro- 
visions, but by general consent, made apphcation to the 
King of Great Britain for a new charter, which was to 
make radical and important changes in their system of 
government. Their request was granted, and Mr. 
Baxter proudly returned with the royal document. And 
how was it adopted ? Not by a formal vote in town 
meeting, but the people, hearing the good news, ran to- 
gether at Newport, and received it by one spontaneous 
acclamation. This charter was a written compact be- 
tween Great Britain and the colonists ; it impHed alle- 
giance on the one part, and protection on the other. 
The colony became a British province, its inhabitants 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 17 

were British subjects, and all the authority of the gov- 
ernment under the charter was derived from the British 
crown. This good old charter, as it has often been 
called, continued in full force and virtue until the tie 
which bound the colony to the mother country was sev- 
ered by a sovereign act of the people when they de- 
clared themselves independent. As soon as that was 
done — as soon as Rhode Island, with her sister colo- 
nies, declared herself absolved from all connection with 
Great Britain, and assumed to be an independent state 
— in that hour the good old charter died, and forever 
after became a dead letter. Here was a complete abro- 
gation of all its constitutional authority, and political 
power returned to the people at large. Under these 
circumstances a majority of the inhabitants of the colo- 
ny, in accordance with those democratic principles 
which had marked all their former proceedings, might 
have instantly set themselves at work to form and 
establish a written constitution. But like a clap of 
thunder war broke upon them, and they had no quiet 
hours to deliberate upon a constitution. Rhode Island 
was of easy access to the British navy, and British 
troops were soon quartered in her bosom ; public and 
private concerns were swallowed up in the spirit of 
heroism ; they left " the deer and the steer, and their 
nets and barges," and rushed to the defence of their 
common country; and nobly did they acquit them- 
selves. 

Rhode Island soldiers mingled in every conflict ; her 
Spartan bands fought with a courage and determination 
never surpassed ; free as water they poured their blood 
2* 



18 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

npon the altar of their country, and without a murmur 
cheerfully sacrificed their lives in the great cause of 
freedom ; and through all future time that state may 
well be proud of the part she bore in the American 
Revolution. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 19 



CHAPTEK II. 

THE ABROGATION OF THE ROYAL CHARTER BY THE 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. ITS DEFECTS AND 
PRACTICAL INJUSTICE, AND EFFORTS OF THE PEOPLE 
TO BRING ABOUT A CHANGE. 

As we have said before, all the authority of the 
British government in Ehode Island became extin- 
guished as soon as the people refused to recognize it, 
and declared the colony independent ; but if any one 
should be disposed to deny that, there can certainly be 
no doubt that the absolution was fully consummated 
by the treaty of peace made in 1783. Whatever 
period may be fixed upon as that of the full emancipa- 
tion of the inhabitants of the colony from the govern- 
ment of Great Britain, that was the time when the 
official authority of all who held under the charter 
ceased and terminated ; that was the time when all po- 
litical power returned to the people ; the officers of the 
government, in its several departments, became tenants 
at will, and liable at any time to be ejected by the peo- 
ple in the exercise of their natural and unalienable 
rights ; and if at that time, as they had twice done 
before, they had of their own accord, without any legal 
provision, met and conferred together in order to devise 
some plan by which the sentiments of the whole people. 



W THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

or the major part of tliem, sliould be ascertained and 
made known, and, if finally a decided majority had 
manifested their wishes by adopting^ in a regular public 
manner, a written constitution for the government of 
the state, such constitution would have been of un- 
doubted validity, and every where acknowledged as the 
supreme law of the state. But we have been told that 
when the authority of Charles II. ceased, it vested im- 
mediately in the legislature. Could that be so ? Does 
the agent retain power after the authority of the princi- 
pal who granted it ceases ? Certainly not. That would 
be a violation of every principle of law and reason. It 
must therefore be acknowledged that there was a time, 
after the abrogation of the charter, when the people 
of Rhode Island might have proceeded in their own 
way to form and adopt a constitution. They were no 
longer a colony of Great Britain, but of themselves an 
independent, sovereign state. Yet they suffered the 
government to go on in form and name as though the 
old, defunct parchment still retained its original validi- 
ty ; and from 1776 to 1841 the people made no efficient 
effort to establish a written constitution. 

Now, if, in 177G, the inhabitants, or a major part of 
them, might rightfully and properly have proceeded, in 
their own way, and formed a written constitution, 
when, we ask, did that right cease? When was it 
/ forfeited ? Why might not the inhabitants of that ter- 
ritory as well and as rightfully proceed, in their origi- 
nal, sovereign capacity, to form and establish a written 
rule of government in 1841, as at any former period ? 
It is said to be a maxim in the English government. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 21 

that '^ time does not run against tlie King." By this 
rule, in a democratic government, time does not run 
against the people, and, therefore, what they had a right 
to do in 1776, they had a right to do in 18-11. 

But we are told that a government once established 
cannot be rightfully changed otherwise than through the 
government itself. According to that doctrine, as soon 
as a government of any sort is once set up, whatever 
may be its effects or tendencies, the people lose all 
control over it, and are forever bound to yield obedi- 
ence to it, unless, by humbling themselves, they can 
induce the powers that be to modify it. These are not 
democratic, but despotic, doctrines, and they ill be- 
come the American Republic. 

We are told that when the people wish to bring 
about a change in their government, they must do it in 
a constitutional manner, and proceed according to pre- 
scribed forms. This might be true to a certain extent, 
when the state already had a written constitution which 
contained provisions for its amendment. But Rhode 
Island can hardly be said to have had a constitution at 
the time the controversy broke out. After the people, 
by their declaration of independence, had annulled the 
authority of the royal charter, they never proposed to 
adopt that instrument as the constitution of the state ; 
and if they had done so, it would have afforded them 
no relief, because it contained no provision for any 
change. That power was vested exclusively in the 
British crown. The people themselves could never 
change it ; therefore no such provision was made. 

Under these circumstances, the people must cither 



^^ THE LIFE AND TIMES OF . 

yield an abject submission to a government which was 
little better than usui'pation — a government which ac- 
knowledged no constitutional limits to its authority, and 
denied the natural rights of men — or they must seek 
relief by an appeal to a majority of the people in 
their sovereign capacity. They chose the latter : and 
although the result was disastrous to some of its prin- 
cipal agents, yet the time will come when the world 
will applaud their course, and justify their conduct. 

We shall now proceed to point out some of the prin- 
cipal causes which induced the people to desire a reform. 

And first, it was thought to be inconsistent with the 
honor and dignity of the people of a sovereign state to 
suffer the government to be regulated by a musty char- 
ter, which never had any authority except as a com- 
mission from a British King. After the authority of the 
crown was repudiated, the legislature assumed absolute 
and unlimited power ; that body claimed the right to 
regulate the elective franchise, and made and unmade 
their own electors ; it held and exercised a most im- 
proper and dangerous influence over the judiciary by 
making the judges dependent on that body for their 
annual election. This was the precarious tenure by 
which every judge in the state held his office. 

In such a condition, there could be tio safe and inde- 
pendent judiciary. Both the judges and the causes 
which they were to determine became the sport of par- 
ty controversies. It has been elsewhere eloquently 
said, " A judge should sit serenely above all the storms 
of political strife, that he may rightly divide the justice 
of the law between man and man ; he should have 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 23 

nothing to hope from party ascendency, and nothing to 
fear from the fall of political friends." 

The Hon. William E. Goddard, late Professor of 
Moral Philosophy in Brown University, in an address 
delivered at the inauguration of the legislature under 
the present constitution, at Newport, May 3, 1843, 
made use of the following language, as appears from a 
printed report of that address : — 

" In truth, my fellow-citizens, without a judiciary 
which feels itself to be independent of the legislative 
power, no constitution is worth the parchment upon 
which it is engrossed. Without a judiciary there can 
be no freedom under a popular government. Without 
such a judiciary, civilization in its higher forms can 
make no advance." 

And, strange as it may seem, this declaration was 
publicly and solemnly made by one who eulogized the 
old royal charter, and bitterly opposed the people's con- 
stitution. 

The restriction of the privilege of suffrage to free- 
holders and their eldest sons excluded from voting 
quite a large class of citizens, and incidentally became 
the cause of much fraud and corruption at the polls. 
In 1841, and for many years previous, the right to vote 
was limited by law to such only as could show a deed 
of some freehold estate, supposed to be worth one hun- 
dred and thirty-four dollars, and the eldest sons of such 
freeholders. In times of strong party excitement, a 
great portion of the unscrupulous non-freeholders were 
qualified to vote by sham deeds of estates in which they 
really had no interest ; and to so great an extent was this 



24 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

fraud carried, that in many towns it was supposed that 
one fourth of all who voted in town meeting were so 
qualified. In many instances one sham deed, by qual- 
ifying the father, made two voters by qualifying his 
eldest son at the same time. It will be recollected, 
also, that many of those who consented to be thus qual- 
ified were not of the most reliable class of citizens, be- 
cause many high-minded men despised such dishonest 
means. 

When her brave soldiers returned from the war of the 
revolution, scarred, broken down, and exhausted by their 
long service in tlie cause of their country, a great ma- 
jority found themselves excluded and shut out from all 
participation in that government for which they had la- 
bored so ardently, and sacrificed so much. They found 
the government a landed oligarchy, and because they 
had become poor in the service of their country, and had 
little left but worthless continental paper, although they 
had been victorious abroad, they found themselves out- 
lawed at home. They were told that non-freeholders 
were not considered as citizens, that they had no natu- 
ral rights, and that the word people meant those, and 
those only, who had been made such by legislative 
enactment. 

As agriculture declined, and commercial, mechanical, 
and manufacturing employments increased, the number 
excluded from the privilege of voting was continually 
on the increase, so that some in every town, and large 
numbers of good citizens in many towns, were cut off 
from the privilege of voting. Many of these disfran- 
chised citizens owned large amounts of personal estate ; 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. ^5 

among tliem were men of learning, enterprise, and 
character. In many towns they paid a large share of 
the taxes J and throughout the state they constituted by 
far the largest portion of the military ; they were re- 
quired by law to purchase and provide themselves with 
arms and military equipments, to perform duty at stated 
times in every year, and to hold themselves in readi- 
ness for any service which the state authorities might 
require of them ; and yet, for all this, they received no 
compensation, but were denounced by the charter au- 
thorities as the rabbhy that had no interest in the gov- 
ernment of their country. 

The charter legislature claimed to be the sovereign 
power of the state, and exercised unrestricted control 
over the elective franchise ; and although in 1841, only 
real estate of the value of one hundred and thirty-four 
dollars was required to make a freeman, yet the amount 
required had formerly been much higher. In 1729, 
two hundred pounds, or more than six hundred dollars, 
was required, and in 1746, the legislature passed an 
act restricting the right to vote to those only who at the 
time of their voting possessed in their own right real 
estate of the value of four hundred pounds, or some- 
thing more than thirteen hundred dollars ; yet the right 
of primogeniture was always respected, and the eldest 
sons of qualified freeholders were always allowed to 
vote ; and this feudal right was continued by the char- 
ter government up to the time of the present consti- 
tution. 

There can be no more dangerous feature in any gov- 
ernment than the control of the elective franchise by 



26 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the legislature ; because, in that case, there is no legal 
impediment between freedom and despotism. 

But the denial of the right to vote was not the only 
disability to which non-freeholders were subjected. A 
non-freeholder, by himself, without the aid of some 
freeholder, was not protected by the laws of the state ; 
he could not commence or maintain any action for the 
collection of a debt, and if he was assaulted and 
wounded in his person, he could have no process against 
the offender, unless some freeholder would consent to 
indorse his name upon the back of the writ. By 
statute this was required in every case before a non- 
freeholder eould pray out a writ, and without such in- 
dorsement the law afforded him no protection whatever. 
Again, non-freeholders were not allowed to serve as 
jurors, yet they were required in all cases to be tried 
by juries composed exclusively of freeholders ; the non- 
freeholder, therefore, was not tried by a jury of his 
peers, but by a privileged class to which he did not 
belong. This was a flagrant violation of the great 
principle of common law, which allows every man to 
be tried by his equals. 

It is said that the charter of Charles II. was first 
drawn up in Rhode Island, according to the views and 
wishes of the principal inhabitants, and subsequently 
carried to England to receive the royal signature ; and 
there is little doubt that the assignment of representa- 
tives to the several towns was fair, and based upon the 
population at that time. Newport, which had the 
largest number of inhabitants, was allowed six ; Ports- 
mouth, Warwick, and Providence, being perhaps aboiit 



THOMAS WILSON DOPJl. 27 

ei^ual in population, were each allowed four • and, that 
none should be unrepresented, every other town was 
allowed two representatives. But, in 1841, almost 
two centuries had passed since the adoption of the 
charter, and the population had so changed as to make 
that allotment very unequal. From the census of the 
United States for 1840, it appears that the town of 
Providence had at that time more than forty thousand 
inhabitants, which was very near one third of the whole 
population of the state at that time ; yet Providence 
was allowed but four representatives in the legislature, 
whilst every small town continued to send two. Several 
of these towns had each less than one thousand inhab- 
itants, and by comparing the census of the state with the 
charter, it is seen that less than one third of the inhab- 
itants of the state under the charter elected a majority 
of the representatives in the legislature. And if we 
examine the subject still more closely, we shall find 
that a little more than one third of that third, or one 
ninth of the whole number of inhabitants, might con- 
trol the legislature. According to the census of 1840, 
the number of white male citizens over twenty-one 
years of age was about twenty-five thousand ; and we 
find from authentic returns, that the whole number of 
votes polled that year for presidential electors was 
eight thousand six hundred and sixty-two. This, we 
believe, was the largest vote ever polled under the 
charter. By this it appears that only about one third 
of all the male citizens over twenty-one years of age 
were voters, and this third in the small towns, as we 
said before, elected a majority of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 



28 THE LIFE AXP TIMES OF 

Under these circitmstaKces the intelligent, liberal- 
minded yoLing men felt aggrieved ; and it is said that 
some even removed out of the state for no other reason 
than because they were held as vassals at home. When 
they looked abroad^ they saw no such invidious distinc- 
tion in any other state. They found non-freeholders 
and young men respected as citizens, and often occupy- 
ing responsible official stations. The disparaged con- 
dition of non-freeholders in Rhode Island was dishon- 
orable to the state, and humiliating to its citizens ; it 
repressed emulation and discouraged enterprise. 

Now, under all the circumstances which have been 
mentioned, it may w^ell be supposed that an intelligent 
people, who were jealous of their rights, would be very 
desirous to bring about important changes in the gov- 
ernment ; and a history of their proceedings shows 
that to have been the case. Soon after the revolution. 
Congress recommended to the several states to organize 
governments and form constitutions which should be 
adapted to the great change which had taken place in 
their condition, and nearly all the states complied with 
the recommendation. A committee was soon after 
appointed by the General Assembly of Khode Island 
to take the matter into consideration ; but it does not 
appear that they made any report. In 1797, the neces- 
sity of forming a constitution was zealously urged by 
some of their ablest statesmen. In 1811, the subject 
was again brought before the legislature, and an act 
extending the right of suffrage passed the Senate, but 
was rejected in the House. Again, in 1820, the subject 
was agitated ; and a convention was holden in the 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 29 

county of Providence to consider what measures should 
be made use of to bring about the desired reform. It 
was there declared " that a free people have for more 
than forty years submitted to a species of government in 
theory, if not always in practice, a^ despotic as that of 
the autocrat of the Russias" 

And, speaking of the General Assembly, they said, 
" That omnipotent body should consider that the people 
are competent to form a convention for themselves, and 
that any longer delay on the part of the legislature 
would be Hkely to produce such a result." 

In 1824, a convention, called the " Freemen's Con- 
vention," met and formed a constitution. This consti- 
tution did not answer the demands of the people ; it 
made no extension of the right of suffrage, but pro- 
posed, by a constitutional enactment, to place relief be- 
yond the power of the legislature. This constitution 
was submitted to the '^ freemen " only, and by them 
rejected. 

In 1829, several petitions and memorials, asking for 
a republican constitution and an extension of suffrage, 
were presented to the legislature. These memorials 
contained, in all, the names of about two thousand 
men, who certified that they were permanent residents 
of the state ; many of the signers were freeholders, 
and known to be of good standing in the community. 
These memorials were referred to a committee, of whom 
the Hon. Benjamin Hazard, of Newport, was chairman. 
That committee made a very long report, which was 
printed and extensively circulated. The committee, in 
their report, assumed a tone of authority which was 
3* 



so THE LIFE A:SB TIMES OF 

evidently designed to repress the efforts of the people, 
and give them to understand that the General Assembly 
would never make any concessions to them. Although 
the committee knew, and every body knew, that every 
other state in the Union had long since given their 
musty charters to the moles and the bats, and were 
governed by written constitutions, which the people had 
formed and adopted for themselves, yet the committee 
proceeded to say of the charter of Charles II., " No 
constitution before or since the revolution has been 
framed ^ — none can be framed — more free and pop- 
ular." 

The committee well knew that the charter govern- 
ment in Rhode Island was the subject of ridicule 
abroad ; but their report goes on to say, '* Let strangers, 
if they please, treat this instrument with levity, and 
hold it up as a reproach to the state, but let us continue 
to be proud of it." The committee say that they can- 
not understand the meaning of the term " natural 
rights," and declare that the only political right which 
belongs to men in society is the right to comply with 
the demands of their rulers. They declare that " the 
whole science of legislation and jurisprudence is exer- 
cised in application to the rights of property," and that 
those who have little or no property have " no claims 
upon us more than the rights of hospitality, and the 
protection of our laws." The committee go on to 
argue the feudal right of the eldest son to vote, to the 
exclusion of the younger brothers ; and although it 
was held that the sovereign power of the state was 
fixed in the General Assembly, yet they declared in 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 31 

their report that that body had no power to grant the 
relief which the petitioners asked for. The report says, 
*^ If the representatives of the people, chosen for the 
ordinary purposes of legislation, could assume a control 
over the right of suffrage, to limit, curtail, or extend it 
at will, they might on the one hand disfranchise any 
portion they pleased of their own electors, and thereby 
deprive them of power ever to remove their representa- 
tives, and therefore reduce the government to a perma- 
nent aristocracy." 

Now, the committee who made that report, and held 
up to the petitioners the danger that would attend the 
exercise of that power by a legislative body, knew very 
well, at the same time, that their own General Assembly 
had claimed and exercised that same unjust and danger- 
ous power for nearly two hundred years ; and it was 
nothing less than gross insult and mockery to foist upon 
the petitioners the tissue of reproach and falsehood of 
which that report was made up. 

In conclusion, the committee say, "We ought to 
recollect that all the evils which may result from an 
extension of suffrage will be evils beyond our reach. 
We shall entail them upon our latest posterity without 
remedy. Open this door, and the whole frame and 
character of our institutions are changed forever." 

We have been thus particular in noting that, report, 
because it was intended as a final answer to all applica- 
tions for the extension of suffrage, or a written consti- 
tution. It was considered at the time to be a masterly 
production, and held by the government to be perfectly 
orthodox in sentiment. A very able member of the 



32 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

legislature at that time made the following declaration 
in the House of Representatives : " Sir, I conceive that 
this body has the same power over the non-freeholders 
of this state that the Almighty has over the universe.'' 

In 1832, the same subject was agitated without eiFect. 
In 1834, a constitutional party was organized, which, 
after struggling two or three years, was abandoned. In 
the mean time another " freeholders' " convention was 
called to draught a constitution. This convention, by a 
vote of about ten to one, refused to extend the right of 
suffrage, and after a session of two or three weeks, 
dismissed the whole subject and returned home. Thus 
matters went on until 1840, and nothing was accom- 
plished. For nearly half a century the people had 
been struggling against the tyranny of an unauthorized 
legislature, in fruitless endeavors to obtain a republican 
constitution, that should protect them from the abuses 
of power, and guarantee equal rights to all the citizens. 
During that half century, the government had succeed- 
ed in baffling every effort of the people. Time after 
time the disfranchised, in the language of humble sup- 
plicants, implored the government to recognize them 
as citizens, and grant them relief, ^ime after time, 
they were driven away, as from the throne of a despot, 
and obliged to abandon their efforts in hopeless despair. 
One class of applicants became worn out, and retired — 
others followed them — again and again the people re- 
newed their efforts with the same mortifying result, and 
a whole generation passed away in fruitless endeavors 
to establish a republican form of government. 

The people of Rhode Island, a quiet, peace-loving. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 33 

law-abiding community, submitted to the tyranny, 
■whilst they still clung to their own anchor of hope, 
confiding in the justice of their cause, and looking to 
an overruling Providence for ultimate success. When, 
we ask, in the history of the whole world, has an en- 
lightened people borne so long and so much ? 



34 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTEE III. 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE PEOPLE IN FORMInG AND 
ADOPTING A CONSTITUTION. 

The extraordinary excitement whicli attended the 
presidential election, in 1840, for a time overcame all 
local interests, and nearly all those who had previously 
composed the suffrage party were drawn into the ranks 
of one or the other of the two great contending parties. 
But as soon as that election was over, and its temporary 
enthusiasm quieted, the disfranchised, with other liberal- 
minded citizens of the state, returned again to the con- 
sideration of a written constitution. To the friends of 
suffrage the field now appeared clear of almost all other 
political controversies, and all seemed to say, " Now is 
the day and now is the hour " to strike for constitu- 
tional liberty. The subject assumed a grave aspect, 
and engaged the serious attention of the people of the 
whole state. Men of the highest legal attainments, 
who were not influenced by selfish motives, entered into 
the interests of the suffrage party, and the best judges 
of constitutional matters, in and out of the state, de- 
cided that the people of Rhode Island had an undoubted 
right to form and adopt a written constitution, without 
the concurrence of the legislature. The people were 
assured that the American governments were founded 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 35 

upon popular sovereignty, and that the expressed will 
of a decided majority of the people must be regarded 
as the supreme law of the state. 

The course of the suffrage party now seemed clear. 
A large association was organized in Providence, and 
auxiliary associations were soon formed in other parts 
of the state. At the January session of the General 
Assembly, 1841, a memorial, numerously signed, was 
received from the town of Smithfield, asking for an ad- 
dition to the number of her representatives in the legis- 
lature. Upon that memorial the House passed the fol- 
lowing resolution : — 

Resolved, by the General Assembly, (the Senate con- 
curring with the House of Representatives therein,) That 
the freemen of the several towns in this state, and 
of the city of Providence, qualified to vote for general 
officers, be, and they are hereby, requested to choose, at 
their semi-annual town or ward meetings in August next, 
so many delegates, and of like qualifications, as they 
are now respectively entitled to choose representatives 
to the General Assembly, to attend a convention to be 
holden at Providence on the first Monday of Novem- 
ber, 1841, to frame a new constitution for this state, 
either in whole or in part, with full powers for this 
purpose ; and if only for a constitution in part, that said 
convention have under their especial consideration the 
expediency of equalizing the representation of the 
towns in the House of Representatives. 

It will be seen that none but qualified freemen were 
allowed to vote for delegates to that convention. 

The action of the legislature upon that petition 
plainly showed a fixed determination to yield nothing 
to the people, and the friends of reform became 



36 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

satisfied that nothing could be gained by applications to 
the General Assembly, and therefore resolved, as a last 
resort, to carry their cause before the whole people of 
the state. Accordingly, a mass meeting was convened 
in the city of Providence, on the 18th of April, 184:1. 
Here several thousands assembled, and in a quiet and 
orderly manner, conferred together upon the great ques- 
tion at issue. This mass convention adjourned to meet 
at Newport on the 5th of May following. The ad- 
journed meeting was numerously attended, and a large 
number of highly respected freeholders were among its 
most active members. The following preamble and 
resolutions were passed at that meeting : — 

Whereas, It is the undeniable right of the people, 
at all times, peaceably to assemble for consultation and 
conference touching the government under which they 
live, and which they assist in supporting ; and inde- 
pendently to utter and set forth, on such occasions of 
meeting together, their views, sentiments, and plans 
relative to the correction, as well of defects in the 
organization of government, as of faults in the ad- 
ministration of the same : We, a portion of the people 
of this state, now assembled at Newport in mass con- 
vention, from all parts of the state, and acting on be- 
half of the great body of our unenfranchised fellow- 
citizens, do declare their and our opinions and purposes 
in the following resolutions : — 

1. Resolved, That it is repugnant to the spirit of the 
Declaration of American Independence, and derogatory 
to the character of Rhode Island republicans, to ac- 
knowledge the charter of a British King as a constitu- 
tion of political government. While we venerate the 
illustrious names of Roger Williams and John Clarke, 
to whose untiring ability and perseverance the colony 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 37 

of Rhode Island was indebted for this grant from the 
throne of England, so well adapted at the time to the 
wants of his majesty's subjects, and so liberal in its 
concessions, — we are at the same time 5ware that in 
almost all respects, excepting the immortal declaration 
and guarantee of religious freedom, it has become insuf- 
ficient and obsolete ; that it should be laid aside in 
the archives of the state, and no longer be permitted 
to subsist as a barrier against the rights and liberties of 
the people. 

2. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this convention, 
on the occurrence of the American revolution, when 
the ties of allegiance which bound the subjects of this 
colony to the throne of England were dissolved, the 
rights of sovereignty, in accordance with the principles 
of republican government, passed to the whole body of 
the people of this state, and not to any special or fa- 
vored portion of the same ; that the whole people were, 
and are, the just and rightful successors of the British 
King, and as such were and are entitled to alter, amend, 
or annul the form and provisions of government then 
and now subsisting, with the sole restriction imposed 
by the constitution of the United States ; and, in their 
original and sovereign capacity, to devise and substitute 
such a constitution as they may deem to be best adapted 
to the general welfare. 

3. Mesolved, That no lapse of time can bar the sover- 
eignty inherent in the people of this state ; and that 
their omission to form a constitution, and their tol- 
eration of the abuses under which they have so long 
labored, are to be regarded as proof of their long suf- 
fering and forbearance, rather than as arguments against 
their power and their capacity to right themselves, 
whenever, in their opinion, redress from the govern- 
ments at present subsisting is hopeless. 

4. Resolved, That the time has now fully arrived 
for a vigorous and concentrated effort to accomplish a 

4 



88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

thorough and permanent reform in the political institu- 
tions of this state. 

5. Resolved, That a system of government under 
which the legislative body exercise power undefined and 
uncontrolled by fundamental laws, according to its own 
" especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion," 
and limits and restricts, and makes and unmakes, the 
people at its pleasure, is anti-republican, and odious in 
its character and operations, at war with the spirit of 
the age, and repugnant to the feeUngs of every right- 
minded Rhode Island man, and ought to be abated. 

6. Resolved, That the public good imperatively re- 
quires that the powers of the legislature, and rights of 
the citizens, should be defined and fixed by a written 
state constitution. 

7. Resolved, That the representation of the towns in 
the General Assembly, as originally established by the 
provisions of the charter of King Charles II., had ref- 
ference to the then existing population of the same, and 
was at that time not unfairly adjusted to it ; but that, by 
the great increase of population in the towns, the exist- 
ing apportionment has become exceedingly unequal and 
unjust in its operations ; and that a new assignment of 
representatives among the towns, according to popula- 
tion, will be an indispensable article in a constitution 
for this state. A majority of the representatives to the 
General Assembly are now elected by towns containing 
less than one third of the population of the state, and 
some of the towns from twice to twenty times what 
they are entitled to under the just principles of distri- 
bution above named - — an inequality not uncommon in 
the monarchies of Europe, but with the single excep- 
tion of Rhode Island, unknown in the United States. 

8. Resolved, That, at the foundation of this state, 
and long after, property in land was not only the prin- 
cipal property of the citizens, but was so easily attaina- 
ble, that a landed qualification for voters (first definitely 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 39 

established in the colony by the legislature in 1T24) 
excluded only a small portion of the people from polit- 
ical power ; but that the circumstances of the peo- 
ple have since greatly changed, and the existing 
qualification for voting has the effect, contrary to the 
designs of those who first established it, of excluding , 
the great majority of sixteen thousand, or twenty -five 
thousand, over the age of twenty-one years, from all 
political privileges, and participation in the affairs of 
government ; and that, although we entertain a high 
and becoming respect for farmers, and their just influ- 
ence in the state, we are not insensible to the merits of 
their younger sons — of the mechanics, the merchants, 
the workingmen, and others — who own no land ; and 
that we are of opinion that the longer continuance of 
a landed qualification for voters is a great injustice, and 
is contrary to the spirit and principles of a republican 
government ; and that a constitution for this state will 
be altogether insufficient, unsatisfactory, and impracti- 
cable, that does not restore to the body of the people 
of this state the rights and principles of American 
citizens. 

9. Resolved, That a continuance of the provisions of 
the charter relating to representation, and of the act of 
the legislature requiring a freehold estate to entitle a 
citizen to vote for public officers, has the effect not only 
to vest the control of the General Assembly, as we have 
before seen, in less than one third of the population, 
but as the voters in this third are only a third part of 
the whole number of male adult citizens, this further 
effect also — the most odious of all — of placing the 
control of the Assembly and the state in one ninth part 
of its adult population ; or, in other words, in the 
hands of less than three thousand men out of twenty- 
five thousand who are over twenty-one years of age. 

10. Resolved, That such a state of things is a bold 
and hardy defiance of all popular rights, and is a total 



40 THE LIFE AXD TIMES OF 

departure from the principles advanced at the first ses- 
sion of the General Assembly in the year 1647, who 
then solemnly declared and voted that the government 
of this state should be a democracy. 

11. Resolved, That the American system of gov- 
ernment is a government of men, and not of property ; 
and that while it provides for the ample protection and 
safe enjoyment and transmission of property, it confers 
upon it no political advantages, but regards all men as 
free and equal, and exacts from them no price for the 
exercise of their birthright ; and that, therefore, the un- 
doubted rights and privileges of the people, as well as 
the true honor and prosperity of the state, can only be 
completely obtained and permanently insured by a wait- 
ten constitution, whose framers shall be chosen from the 
people of the towns, in proportion to population, and 
which shall be approved and ratified by the people at 
large ; and that, in the exercise of this high act of sov- 
ereignty, every American citizen, whose actual perma- 
nent residence or home is in this state, has a right to 
participate. And we accordingly pledge ourselves in- 
dividually to each other, and collectively to the public, 
that we will use our unremitting exertions for such a 
constitution, in the way that has been described. 

12. Resolved, That we disclaim all action with or 
for any particular party in this great question of state 
rights, reserving to ourselves individually our own opin- 
ions on all matters of state or national politics, which we 
call upon no man to sacrifice ; and that we heartily invite 
the earnes^t cooperation of men of all political parties 
in the cause which we have at heart, and which we be- 
lieve to be the cause of liberty, equality, and justice to 
all men. 

13. Resolved, That the General Assembly should 
have called the convention to frame a constitution in 
such a manner as to apportion the delegates to the con- 
vention among the several towns, according to popula- 



THOMAS WILSON DORR, 41 

tion, and to give to every American citizen as aforesaid 
the right of voting for delegates, and for the constitu- 
tion which may be proposed for the ratification of the 
people. 

14. Resolved, That the friends of reform in each 
town be requested forthwith to establish an association 
for the purpose of a better organization for correspond- 
ence, and generally for the promotion of the objects of 
this convention. 

15. Resolved, That a state committee of eleven 
persons be appointed by this convention to correspond 
with the associations of the several towns, and to carry 
forward the cause of reform and equal rights, and to 
call a convention of delegates to draught a constitution 
at as early a day as possible. 

16. Resolved, That the state committee be request- 
ed to obtained, without delay, a list of all the citizens 
in the several towns who are ready to vote for and sus- 
tain a constitution based on the principles hereinbefore 
declared, and to present the same at the adjourned 
meeting. 

17. Resolved, That the state committee be request- 
ed to prepare and send forth an address to the people 
of this state on the subjects contained in the foregoing 
resolutions, and to report proceedings at an adjourned 
meeting. 

18. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be 
transmitted to the governor, to the lieutenant governor, 
and to each member of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, whose attention is especially and respectfully 
asked to the resolution relative to the call of the con- 
vention for framing a constitution. 

19. Resolved, that the support and patronage of all 
the friends of reform are urgently requested in behalf 
of the " New Age," a newspaper exclusively devoted to 
the cause which we have this day assembled to pro- 
mote. 

4* 



42 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

20. Resolved, That these resokitions be signed by 
the president and secretaries of the convention, and 
published in the seyeral newspapers throughout the 
state, and that the pubhshers be requested to give them 
a gratuitous insertion in their respective papers. 

21. Resolved, That this convention, when it adjourns» 
will adjourn to meet at Providence, on the 5th day of 
July next. 

When the General. Assembly held their session in 
June following, several leading members of the suffrage 
party came to the conclusion that if the legislature 
would adopt a resolution authorizing non-freehoklers to 
vote for delegates to the convention which was to meet 
in November following, it would be advisable to post- 
pone any further action until that convention should 
have met. Accordingly, the Hon. Samuel Y. Atwell^ 
then a member of the House, was requested to nse his 
exertions for that purpose ; and in compliance with that 
request, the records of that session show that Mr. At- 
well, then chairman of the judiciary committee, did re- 
port a bill which provided that all who had paid a town 
or state tax, on real or personal estate, within one year, 
should be allowed to vote for delesrates to that conven- 

o 

tion. This proposition, after a spirited debate, was re- 
jected by a vote of fifty-two to ten. This showed 
plainly enough that non-freeholders could expect no re- 
lief from the General Assembly. 

And, on the 5th of July following, a large mass 
meeting was held by adjournment in the city of Provi- 
dence, by which the following resolutions were 
adopted : — 

Resolved, That on this, the anniversary (5th July, 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 43 

1841) of our national independence, we recur, with 
emotions of deep and patriotic gratitude, to the princi- 
ples, the measures^ and the men of the American rev- 
olution. 

Resolved, That the doctrines of liberty and equality, 
first promulgated in modern times by the immortal 
founders of our state, and re-asserted by the illustrious 
author of the Declaration of Independence, lie at the 
foundation of all that is just and free in our political 
institutions ; and that the vindication of these doctrines, 
when impaired, and the development of them in all 
their force and effect, are duties of the most sacred and 
imperative obligation, and enjoined upon us by the ven- 
erable fathers, who, being dead, yet speak to us, by our 
character as republicans and as men, and by our regard 
to the rights and interests of our successors. 

Resohed, That, in the language of Jefferson, " It is 
not only the right, but the duty, of those now on the 
stage of action, to change the laws and institutions of 
government, to keep pace with the progress of knowl- 
edge, the lights of science, and the amelioration of the 
condition of society ; " — and that '^ nothing is to be 
considered unchangeable but the inherent and unalien- 
able rights of man." 

Resolved, That the political institutions of this state 
have long since lost their character of liberty and 
equality which belong to a republic ; and that, inasmuch 
as, in the words of Washington, '^ the basis of our poht- 
ical institutions is the right of the people to make and 
to alter their constitutions," it has now become the duty 
of the people of Rhode Island, acting upon the piinci- 
ples which have been recited, and animated by the ex- 
ample of their patriotic ancestors, to apply with a firm 
hand, without unnecessary delay, and in their original 
and sovereign capacity, the necessary corrective to ex- 
isting political evils, by the formation and adoption of 
a written republican state constitution. 



44 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Resolved, " That we -anammously and cordially re- 
affirm the views, sentiments, and plans " set forth in 
their resolutions by the convention of the friends of 
equal rights, held at Newport on the 5th day of May 
last ; and that, inasmuch as the General Assembly of 
this state, at their last session, in June, have finally de- 
cided that the freeholders are exclusively the people of 
Ehode Island, and have denied to the great majority of 
the people, so far as it is in their power thus to deny^ 
any participation in the convention to be held in No- 
vember next, the time has now fully arrived for the 
people, in their original and sovereign capacity, to ex- 
ercise their reserved rights ; and that we hereby ap- 
prove the call by the state committee of the people's 
convention, on the basis of the resolutions aforesaid, at 
an early day, for the formation of a constitution. 

Resolved, That when the constitution, so framed^ 
shall be adopted by a majority of the whole people of 
the state, by their signatures or otherwise, as the con- 
vention may provide, we will sustain and carry into 
effect said constitution, by all necessary means ; and 
that, so far as in us lies, we will remove all obstacles to 
its successful establishment and operation : and we 
hereunto solemnly pledge ourselves to each other and 
the public. 

Resolved, That we hail with pleasure the presence 
among us of the venerable remnants of our revolution- 
ary worthies ; and entertain the hope that they may be 
spared to witness another anniversary, when they will 
be deemed not only worthy of shedding their blood for 
the defence of their country, but of voting for their 
rulers, and of taking an equal share of the concerns of 
government. 

Resolved, That we enter our solemn protest against 
the principles upon which the landholders' convention 
is called, as by that call a large majority of the people 
of this state are excluded from a participation in the 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 



45 



choice of delegates to frame a constitution, by the pro- 
visions of which they are to be governed. 

Resolved, That we deny the authority of the legisla- 
ture to proscribe or prevent any portion of our fellow- 
citizens, who are permanent residents of this state, from 
a participation in the organization of the government, 
which is to affect the rights and privileges of all. 

Resolved, That it is contrary to the spirit of a repub- 
lican government for a minority to make laws that shall 
bind the majority ; and that we will resist to the ut- 
most of our ability a government that shall not ac- 
knowledge the just rights of the whole people. 

Resolved, That we will use all honorable means within 
our power to have every American citizen, who is a per- 
manent resident in this state, represented in the conven- 
tion for framing a constitution that shall define the 
powers of the legislature, and secure to the people the 
free exercise of their rights and privileges. 

A state committee, composed of the following gen- 
tlemen, was elected : — 

f Charles Collins, 
Newport County, . . { Dutee J. Pearce, 

L Silas Sisson. 

'Samuel H. Wales, 
Benjamin Arnold, Jr., 
"Welcome B. Sayles, 
Henry L. Webster, 
James B. Stiness, 
Metcalf Marsh. 

f Benjamin M. Bosworth, 
«! Samuel S. Allen, 
t Abijah Luce. 



Providence County, . 



Bristol County, 



46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

r Emanuel Rice, 
Kent County, i Silas Weaver, 

i^ John B. Sheldon. 

r Sylvester Himes, 
Washington County, . i Wager Weeden, 

I, Charles Allen. 

This committee met at Providence, on the 20th of 
July, and proceeded, according to instructions, to issue 
a call for the election of delegates, to take place on the 
28 th day of August following, to attend a convention 
to be holden at the state house in Providence, on the 
first Monday of October, for the purpose of framing 
such a democratic constitution as is guaranteed to every 
state in the Union by the constitution of the United 
States, and laying it before the people of the state for 
their adoption or rejection. The following votes were 
also passed : — 

Voted, That every American male citizen, of twenty- 
one years of age and upwards, who has resided in this 
state one year preceding the election of delegates, shall 
vote for delegates to the convention called by the state 
committee, to be held at the state house in Providence, 
on the first Monday in October next. 

Voted, That every meeting holden for the election 
of delegates to the state convention shall be organized 
by the election of a chairman and secretary, whose cer- 
tificate shall be required of the delegates. 

Voted, That each town of one thousand inhabitants, 
or less, shall be entitled to one delegate ; and for every 
additional thousand, one delegate shall be appointed ; 
and the city of Providence shall elect three delegates 
from each ward in the city. 

Voted, That the chairman and secretary be directed 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 47 

to cause one thousand handbills to be printed and 
distributed through the state, containing the call for a 
convention of delegates. 

Voted, That the proceedings of this meeting be 

sio-ned by the chairman and secretary, and be published. 

^On motion, voted, That this meeting stand adjourned, 

to meet at this place on the 1st day of September, at 

11 o'clock, A. M. ■ 

In compUance with the foregoing recommendation, 
regularly-organized town meetings were held in all the 
towns in the state, on the 28th of August, and delegates 
were chosen to meet in convention at the time specified 
to form a constitution. 

The delegates so elected met in conventiq^ at the 
state house, in the city of Providence, on the first Mon- 
day of October, 1841, and proceeded to form a consti- 
tution, which they caused to be published and circulated 
in every part of the state for examination. The con- 
vention then adjourned to meet again at the same place, 
on the 16th of November. The convention assembled 
according to adjournment, and after making some slight 
amendments, ordered the constitution, as finally agreed 
upon, to be again published, and afterwards to be sub- 
mitted to the people for their adoption or rejection, on 
the 27th, 28th, and 29th of December following. The 
convention then adjourned to meet again on the 12th of 
January, 1842. 

Perhaps no abler deliberative assembly than that which 
met to form the People's Constitution ever convened in 
the State of Phode Island. The members received no 
compensation for their services — they met and labored 
for the sole purpose of forming for the people of the 



48 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

state a written constitution, adapted to their condition 
and wants. 

The constitution was again printed and freely circu- 
lated throughout the state, and on the 27th, 28th, and 
29th of December following, regularly-organized, open 
town meetings were held in all the towns of the state 
for its adoption or rejection. Never, before or since, 
was so large a vote polled in the State of Rhode Island 
in favor of any one object. Every American citizen 
over twenty-one years of age, who had resided in the 
state one year previous to the time of voting, was al- 
lowed to vote, by indorsing his name on the back of 
his ballot^ Throughout the whole state, these meetings 
were conducted in a quiet and orderly manner. Every 
person who voted certified upon his ballot whether he was 
or was not qualified by statute to vote. Free from all 
the side issues, which often bias men in party contests, 
every voter was now at liberty to declare the honest 
sentiments of his heart. 

The secretaries of all the town meetings held as 
aforesaid, preserved and forwarded to the constitutional 
convention all the ballots which were received in open 
town meeting ; and on the 12th day of January, 1842, 
the convention reassembled and proceeded to count the 
ballots so returned, when it was found that 13,944 votes 
had been given for the constitution, and 52 only against 
it. Of the whole number who voted, 49G0 were free- 
holders, who were qualified by statute to vote. It 
therefore appeared that a decided majority, not only of 
all the male citizens of the state over twenty-one years 
of age, but also a majority of all the qualified voters. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 49 

had given their votes for the constitution. From the 
census of the United States for 1840, it appears, as 
near as can be ascertained, that the whole number of 
males in the state at that time over twenty-one years 
of age, was about 25,000. Now, if we deduct from 
that number all who were under guardians, the insane, 
and the idiots, and also those who had not resided in 
the state one year previous to the time of voting, the 
whole number of those who were competent to vote 
would not probably exceed 20,000 ; and of that num- 
ber nearly 14,000 voted for the constitution. Again, 
we find that about 5000 of that 14,000 were qualified 
to vote, by statute ; and by examining the annexed 
schedule; furnished by the secretary of state, we shall 
be satisfied that a good majority of all the qualified 
freemen voted for the constitution. 



State of Votes for General Officers in the Elections, 
from 1832 to 1841, inclusive. 

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, > 
Secretary's Office, January 6, 1844. ) 

I, Henry Bo wen, secretary of said state, and keeper 
|- I of the records and the seals thereof, do certify, 
•- ■ '-' that the whole number of votes for general offi- 
cers, as reported by the counting committee appointed 
by the General Assembly at the May session, for the 
years after named, was as follows, viz. : — 

For the year 1832, five thousand six hundred and 
fifteen. 

For the year 1833, seven thousand three hundred 
and one. 

For the year 1834, seven thousand two hundred and 
thirty-four. 

5 



50 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

For tlie year 1835, seven thousand six hundred and 
seventy-four. 

For the year 1836, seven thousand one hundred and 
sixty-eight. 

For the year 183T, four thousand two hundred and 
seventeen. 

For the year 1838, seven thousand seven hundred 
and forty-six. 

For the year 1839, six thousand two hundred and 
seventy-three. 

For the year 184:0, eight thousand two hundred and 
ninety-two. 

For the year 18-il, two thousand seven hundred and 
thirteen. 

All which appears of record. 

This vote gave the fullest assurance that a very large 
majority of all the people of the state were in favor of 
the constitution, and the convention therefore proceeded 
to declare it adopted, and issued and caused to be pub- 
lished the following proclamation : — 

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLAN- 
TATIONS. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas the convention of the people of this state, 
at their last session, in the city of Providence, on the 
13th day of January, A. D. 1842, passed the following 
resolutions, to wit : — 

" Whereas, by the return of the votes upon the con- 
stitution proposed to the citizens of this state by this 
convention, on the 18th of November last, it satis- 
factorily appears that the citizens of this state, in their 
original and sovereign capacity, have ratified and adopt- 
ed said constitution by a large majority ; and the will 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 61 

of tKe people thus decisively made known, ought to be 
implicitly obeyed and faithfully executed : — 

*' We do, therefore, resolve and declare, that said con- 
stitution rightfully ought to be, and is, the paramount 
law and constitution of the State of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations. 

" And we do further resolve and declare, for our- 
selves, and in behalf of the people whom we represent, 
that we will establish said constitution, and sustain and 
defend the same by all necessary means. 

" Resolved, That the officers of this convention make 
proclamation of the return of the votes upon the con- 
stitution, and that the same has been adopted and has 
become the constitution of this state, and that they 
cause said proclamation to be published in the newspa- 
pers of the same." 

Now, therefore, in obedience to the above vote of 
said convention, we, the undersigned, officers of the 
same, do hereby proclaim and make known to all the 
people of this state, that said constitution has been 
adopted by a large majority of the votes of the citizens 
of this state : and that said constitution of right ought 
to be, and is, the paramount law and constitution of 
the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

And we hereby call upon the citizens of the state to 
give their aid and support in carrying said constitution 
into full operation and effect, according to the terms and 
provisions thereof. 

Witness our hands, at Providence, in said state, this 
ISth day of January, A. D. 1843. 

Joseph Joslin, 
President of the Convention. 
Wager Weeden, \ y. p^-j.^^^ 

AMIJEL H. Av ALES, 



Wm. H. Smith, ) ^ . • 
John S. Harris/| ^^^''^^«^^^^- 



52 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The constitution provided that the new government 
should commence and be organized at the expiration of 
the then existing political year. Article XIY. con- 
tained the following provisions : — 

The present government shall exercise all the powers 
with which it is now clothed, until the said first Tues- 
day of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty- 
two, and until their successors, under this constitution, 
shall be duly elected and qualified. 

All civil, judicial, and military officers now elect- 
ed, or who shall hereafter be elected by the General 
Assembly, or other competent authority, before the 
said first Tuesday of May, shall hold their offices, and 
may exercise their powers, until that time. 

All laws and statutes, public and private, now in 
force, and not repugnant to this constitution, shall con- 
tinue in force until they expire by their own limita- 
tion, or are repealed by the General Assembly. All 
contracts, judgments, actions, and rights of action, shall 
be as valid as if this constitution had not been made. 
All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, 
before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid 
against the state as if this constitution had not been 
made. 

The convention, before they adjourned, directed the 
committee which counted the votes to present to his 
excellency the governor a certified copy of the same, 
and also an attested copy of the constitution which the 
people had adopted, with a request that he should 
communicate the same to the two Houses of the General 
Assembly then in session. 

That communication was made accordingly, signed 
by the following committee : — 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 53 

William James, Chairm. Willard Hazard, 

John R. Waterman, Welcome Ballou Sayles, 

Dutee J. Pearce, Sylv. Himes, 

David Daniels, Israel Wilson, 

Oliver Chace, Jr., Jonathan Remington, 

Robert R. Carr, Christ. Smith, 

Ariel Ballou, Elisha G. Smith, 

Thomas W. Dorr, Samuel Luther, 

Samuel T. Hopkins, Erasmus D. Campbell, 

Alfred Reed, Nathan Bardin, 

Wm. C. Barker, Joshua B. Rathbun, 

Abner Haskell, Nathan A. Brown. 
Alexander Allen, 

Wm. H. Smith, ) Secretaries. 

John b. Harris, ) 

Providence, January 13, 18^3. 

Every step that had been taken had been done open- 
iy and boldly, with all due respect to the existing gov- 
ernment. No attempts were made to disturb or im- 
validate any acts of the existing legislature, or other 
laws of the state, unless they should be found incon- 
sistent with the constitution. The new government was 
not intended to overthrow, but to succeed the old. No 
state constitution was ever formed and adopted in a 
more quiet and orderly manner, or met a more hearty 
approval from the people. But it soon became evident 
that those who held the government would not willingly 
surrender their authority. The constitution and its 
framers and advocates were treated with a haughty 
contempt, and all available means were made use of to 
deter the people from supporting it. 
5* 



54 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTEE IV. 

landholders' constitution foumed and rejected, 
proceedings of the general assembly. the 
right of the people to form constitutions 
considered, and authorities quoted. 

In the mean time the landholders' convention, which 
was composed of delegates chosen only by freemen, 
met and formed their constitution, which was ordered to 
be submitted to such only as were ascertained to be en- 
titled to vote under its provisions. The 21st, 22d, and 
23 d days of March, 1842, were fixed upon for its 
adoption, and the General Assembly, at their January 
session, ordered five thousand copies of that constitu- 
tion to be printed, and with twenty-five thousand bal- 
lots, to be distributed throughout the state, and the 
most strenuous efforts were made by the charter gov- 
ernment to induce the people to go forward and adopt 
it. At length the time for voting arrived, the polls 
were kept open three days, and when the votes came to 
be returned and counted, it was found that this consti- 
tution had been rejected by a majority of six hundred 
and seventy-five votes. The result of this contest may 
justly be considered as a second demonstration in favor 
of the people's constitution. 

As we have said before, the convention which 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 55 

counted the votes given for the people's constitution 
communicated their doings to the legislature then in 
session in Providence, and thereupon the Hon. Samuel 
Y. Atwell, then a member of the House, and one of 
the most able and high-minded statesmen that Ehode 
Island has ever had, introduced a bill which provided 
for the surrendering of the charter government at the 
expiration of that political year to the government that 
was to be organized at that time under the constitution 
which had been adopted. An opportunity was now of- 
fered the charter authorities honorably and quietly to sur- 
render the government to the rightful authorities. Such 
had been the case at every change that had before taken 
place in the government of that state. When the first 
charter was received, each of the colonial governments 
readily and cheerfully surrendered to the government 
under the charter ; and again, when the government 
under the first charter was superseded by the charter 
from Charles II., the old government surrendered its 
authority to the new one the very next day after the 
charter was received. Therefore, in compliance with 
former usage, and by every principle of law and reason, 

— by every principle of honor, justice, and humanity, 

— every member of that legislature was bound to sup- 
port the resolution offered by Mr. Atwell. 

But that proposition was unceremoniously rejected ; 
and when doubts were expressed about the majority of 
votes given for the people's constitution, Mr. Atwell 
proposed to the legislature to go into an examination of - 
those votes, which had been carefully preserved by the 
convention, and were tendered to the General Assembly 



5g THE LIFE A^S^r* TlMBB OT 

for that purpose. That proposition was^ treated -with 
scorn, and promptly rejected. The legislature held that 
it was of no consequence whether a majority had or had 
not voted for the constitution. We may well presume 
that every member of the legislature was perfectly 
satisfied that votes enough had been given for it, and 
that nothing could be gained by an investigation. At 
the same time the Assembly saw that if they should 
take that issue, and find the votes correctly returned 
and counted, that body %vould be expected to yield up 
its authority. 

The refusal to examine the votes was an implied 
acknowledgment of their correctness, and therefore the 
legislature were driven to the necessity of resting their 
case upon another horn of the dilemma. The whole 
of the proceedings of the people in the formation and 
adoption of their constitution were declared void ah 
initio for want of legislative authority, and this is the 
point upon wliich the whole case, with all its conse- 
quences, rests ; it therefore deserves to be duly con- 
sidered. Had the legislature any authority to require 
or authorize the people to form and adopt a constitu- 
tion ? The charter gave them no such authority, nor 
had the people at any time or in any manner conferred 
such power upon the General Assembly ; therefore, if 
the legislature had pretended to have or exercise any 
such authority, it would have been usurpation, and in 
itself illegal. Those who knew any thing about it, 
knew^ veiy well that the Assembly had no power to 
pass any act that should be of binding force, or confer 
upon the people any legal power to take measures for 



THOMAS WILSON DOltK* 07 

forming a constitution. It will be seen by an examina- 
tion of the doings of the legislature at the January 
session, 1841, tliat the act of that session relative to 
the calling of a convention was merely advisory ; it did 
not order or direct, but requested the " freemen " to meet 
and choose delegates to form a constitution. The 
words " Be it enacted/' in themselves, are of no au- 
thority, therefore all that was done by that act was sim- 
ply to recommend to the '* freemen " to take the course 
pointed out ; nobody was bound by it, and a refusal to 
comply would have been no breach of law. Nor had 
the eighty-four individuals who composed that Assem« 
bly any more right to request the '* freemen " so to 
proceed, than the same number of respectable individ- 
uals in private life ; therefore the town meetings that 
were held pursuant to that request, were just as illegal 
as the meetings which were held for a similar purpose 
in compliance with the request of a mass convention ; 
and, therefore, if the landholders' constitution had been 
adopted, it would have had no more authority than that 
which the people did adopt. Nor does the validity of 
a constitution depend at all upon any initiatory meas- 
ures ; it is the adoption alone which gives it authority. 
But there is another feature in the case. The call of 
the Assembly was directed to the freemen only, and 
these, as we have seen, constituted only about one 
third of the people, so that the invitation was not ex- 
tended to all the people, or a majority, but to a known 
minority ; so that a majority of the people could not, 
if they chose, comply with the request. They were, 
therefore, left free to take their own course, without 



58 THE LIFE A^'D TIMES OF 

any legislative instruction. But we are told that the 
people are not the people in a legal sense ; that men 
have no natural inherent rights, but that political rights 
are gifts from the governmentj and bestowed upon such 
only as the government sees fit to point out as objects 
of favor. 

This is anti-republican doctrine, and directly oppo- 
site to the declared principles upon which all the Amer- 
ican governments are founded. If this doctrine is true, 
the Declaration of American Independence is a lie, and 
the patriots of the revolution shed their blood for noth- 
ing. Some appear to be unable to understand that men 
have certain natural rights which are before, and inde- 
pendent of, all social compacts. They cannot under- 
stand that the consent of the governed is the only true 
source of political power ; yet no philosophical problem 
is capable of clearer demonstration. All who are the 
subjects of a government possess an indefeasible right 
to give or withhold their consent. A consideration of 
the greatest good of the greatest number has led to the 
adoption of the rule that the will of the majority should 
be considered the will of the whole, and be obeyed 
accordingly ; and so long, therefore, as any government 
enjoys that consent, it may justly exercise its authority ; 
but whenever that consent is decidedly withheld, the 
government becomes arbitrary and unjust. Tyrants 
may cavil at this, and interested men find many objec- 
tions ; but it is nevertheless the true doctrine of Ameri- 
can democracy. In its commencement, every free gov- 
ernment has been established by mutual agreement. 
The compact formed on board tlie Mayflower is a good 



THOMAS WILSON DORE. 69 

example, and the colonies established by Koger Wil- 
liams at Providence, and by John Clarke at Newport, 
were of the same character. Such were also many 
other infant settlements in this country. The records 
of the colony of Koger Williams for many years show 
that the declaratory clause in their legislative proceed- 
ings was, *^ It is agreed," instead of " Be it enacted," 
as now used. Although those who held the govern- 
ment of Rhode Island under the charter, in 1841-2, 
resorted to the sacrilegious measure of denying the 
truths set forth in the Declaration of American Inde- 
pendence, yet the whole frame of government in the 
United States, and every single state, rests upon that 
declaration of rights as upon a corner stone which can 
never be overthrown, except with the freedom of the 
government. In our statute books, it takes precedence 
of every other document ; its principles are incorpo- 
rated into every state constitution ; and at every return- 
ing anniversary in every town, city, and hamlet through- 
out the United States, it is publicly read and renewedly 
and solemnly acknowledged as the basis of our political 
faith. At such a time, to deny or doubt its truth would 
be regarded as political infidelity, and bring upon every 
such individual the hatred and scorn of every true 
American. It is idle to say that that instrument was a 
revolutionary document, and that we have no further 
use for it, or that it was made up of rhetorical flourishes 
and unmeaning declamations. Its principles, which were 
true then, are true now, and will continue to be so to 
the end of time. Tyrants may storm and rave against 
them — despotism may crush them out or burv them in 



60 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

obscurity — ignorance or irresolution may allow them 
to be forgotten or trampled upon; but the truths them- 
selves, as irrefragable as the doctrine of the solar sys- 
tem, will remain forever. If any one state more than 
another cherished these principles, it was Ehode Island. 
They governed her earliest institutions, and are recog- 
nized in all her subsequent history, and were publicly 
proclaimed by a solemn enactment of her General As- 
sembly in 17T6. So jealous was that state of those 
rights, and so anxious to guard them against any inno- 
vation, that her delegates in Congress would not ratify 
the constitution of the United States until they had 
filed with it the following declaration : — - 

We, the delegates of the people of the State of 
Ehode Island and Providence Plantations, duly elected 
and met in convention, having maturely considered the 
constitution -for the United States of America, agreed to 
on the seventeenth day of September, in the year one 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, by the con- 
vention then assembled at Philadelphia, in the Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania, (a copy whereof precedes 
.these presents,) and having also seriously and deliber- 
ately considered the present situation of this state, do 
declare and make known, — 

I. That there are certain natural rights, of which 
men, when they form a social compact, cannot deprive 
or divest their posterity ; among which are the enjoy- 
ment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring, 
possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and 
obtalninfT happiness and safety. 

. 11. That all power is naturally vested in, and conse- 
quently derived from, the people ; that magistrates, 
therefore, are their trustees and agents, and at all times 
amenable to them. 



THOMAS WILSON DOUR. 61 

III. That the powers of government may be reas- 
sumed by the people whensoever it shall become neces- 
sary to their happiness. 

The suffrage party did not ignorantly and rashly 
adopt the course which they pursued in order to estab- 
lish a written constitution. The subject was thorough- 
ly examined and considered by all its leading members, 
and the decisive step was not taken until all other 
means had failed. They saw the course which they 
had marked out justified by the history of their own 
government; they saw the principles which they had 
adopted publicly incorporated into the constitutions of 
more than twenty of their sister states ; they consult- 
ed able jurists in different parts of the United States ; 
they also found themselves justified by the written 
declarations of the ablest statesmen and highest judges, 
Mr. Jefferson said, " It is not only the rights but the 
duty, of those now on the stage of action to change the 
laws and the institutions of government, to keep pace 
with the progress of knowledge, the light of science, 
and the amelioration of the condition of society. 
Nothing is to be considered unchangeable but the in- 
herent inalienable rights of man." Justice Iredell, of 
the Supi-eme Court of the United States, declared that 
" the people may remodel their government whenever 
they think proper, without the consent of the govern- 
ment itself, not merely because it is oppressively exer- 
cised, but because they think another form is more con- 
ducive to their welfare." 

Justice Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration 
of Independence, and a member of the convention that 
6 



6^ THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

framed tlie constitution of the United States, and after- 
wards one of the judges of the Supreme Court, says, 
" Of the right of a majority of the whole people to 
change their government at will there is no doubt." 
Again he says, '' The people may change their consti- 
tution whenever and however they please.'' 

The late Hon. Thomas H. Benton said in the Senate 
of the United States, " The people of any state may 
at any time meet in convention without a law of their 
legislature, and without any provision, or against any 
provision, in their constitution, and may alter or abolish 
the whole frame of government as they please." 

The convention which formed the present constitution 
of the State of Virginia, by a vote of sixty-eight to 
twenty-five, decided that no clause providing for 
amendments should be inserted in their constitution, 
because it was held " that a majority of the people had 
the power at any time and in any manner they pleased 
to amend that constitution, or make a new one." By 
that act sixty-eight men, nearly three fourths of the 
whole number of the members of that convention, sol- 
emnly declared that the people themselves could not be 
bound by any constitutional provisions, but might at 
any time, and without any law, amend that constitution, 
or make a new one. Among those who voted with the 
majority were Chief Justice Marshall and Ex-President 
Madison, and, strange as it may seem, the name of John 
Tyler, Avho was afterwards president of the United 
States, appears in the same catalogue ; and if he had 
not forgotten his own solemn act in that instance, he 
would never have been induced to lend the military 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 63 

forces of the United States to overthrow a constitution 
which a large majority of the whole people of a sover- 
eign state had adopted. 

A long catalogue of illustrious names of the highest 
authority might be produced to show that Mr. Dorr 
and the suffrage party had an undoubted right to take 
the course which they did in forming and adopting a 
constitution, and in setting up a government under it. 

This step was not taken unadvisedly ; it was no 
quixotic enterprise, or sudden ebullition of passion, nor 
was it occasioned by slight causes which had just trans- 
pired, but was a course to which the people were driven 
by a long train of abuses and insults, '^ all tending to 
the same end." The great body of those who voted 
for the people's constitution, honestly relying upon the 
justice of their cause, anticipated little or no opposition 
to its final accomplishment; they supposed that they 
were doing what they had an undoubted right to do, 
and they expected to receive the approbation of all in- 
telligent men ; they could not believe that a constitu- 
tion, so just in its provisions, so well adapted to the 
condition and wants of the people, and so urgently 
demanded by so decided a majority, would be resisted 
with the bayonet. But the result showed that they 
counted too much upon the honor and magnanimity of 
their opponents, and far too much upon their own firm- 
ness and fidelity. 



64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ALGERINE ACT. APPLICATION TO THE PRESIDENT 
OF THE UNITED STATES FOR TROOPS. CORRESPOND- 
ENCE BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND GOVERNOR 
KING, AND OTHERS. MR. DORr's ELECTION. HIS 
MESSAGE, ETC. 

As soon as it was ascertained that the landholders' 
constitution had been rejected, an extra session of the 
General Assembly was called, and convened in Provi- 
dence, on the 28th of March, at which time the follow- 
ing act was passed : — 

An Act in relation to Offences against the Sovereign 
Power of this State, 

Whereas in a free government it is especially neces- 
sary that the duties of the citizen to the constituted au- 
thorities should be plainly defined, so that none may 
confound our regulated American liberty with unbridled 
license ; and whereas certain artful and ill-disposed 
persons have, for some time past, been busy with 
false pretences amongst the good people of this state, 
and have formed, and are now endeavoring to carry 
through, a plan for the subversion of our government 
under assumed forms of law, but in plain violation of 
the first principles of constitutional right, and many 
have been deceived thereby ; and whereas this General 
Assembly, at the same time that it is desirous to awaken 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 65 

tlie honest and well meaning to a sense of their duty, 
is resolved by all necessary means to guard the safety 
and honor of the state, and, overlooking what is past, 
to punish such evil doers, in future, in a manner due to 
their offences : 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly as follotvs : — 

Section 1. All town, ward, or other meetings of 
the freemen, inhabitants or residents of this state, or 
of any portion of the same, for the election of any 
town, county, or state officer or officers, called or held 
in any town of this state, or in the city of Providence, 
except in the manner, for the purposes, at the times, 
and by the freemen by law prescribed, are illegal and 
void; and that any person or persons who shall act 
as moderator or moderators, warden or wardens, clerk 
or clerks, in such pretended town, ward, or other meet- 
ings^ hereafter to be held, or in any name or manner, 
receive, record, or certify votes for the election of 
any pretended town, county, or state officers, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by 
indictment with a fine not exceeding one thousand nor 
less than five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned for 
the term of six months : Provided, however, that this 
act is not intended to apply to cases in which, by acci- 
dent or mistake, some prescribed form or forms of call- 
ing town or ward meetings of the freemen of the sev- 
eral towns of this state, and of the city of Providence, 
shall be omitted or overlooked. 

Sec. 2. Any person or persons who shall in any 
manner signify that he or they will accept any execu- 
tive,- legislative, judicial, or ministerial office or offices, 
by virtue of any such pretended election in any such 
pretended town, ward, or other meeting or meetings, or 
shall knowingly sufier or permit his or their name or 
names to be used as a candidate or candidates therefor, 
shall be adjudged guilty of a high crime and misde- 
6* 



66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

meanor, and be punished by indictment in a fine of two 
thousand dollars, and be imprisoned for the term of one 
year. 

Sec. 3. If any person or persons, except such as are 
duly elected thereto, according to the laws of this state^ 
shall under any pretended constitution of government 
for this state, or otherwise,, assume to exercise any of 
the legislative, executive, or ministerial functions of 
the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, senators, 
members of the House of Eepresentatives, secretary of 
state, attorney general, or general treasurer of this 
state, or within the territorial limits of the same, as 
the same are now actually held and enjoyed, either sep- 
arately or collectively, or shall assemble for the purpose 
of exercising any of said functions, all and every such 
exercise of or meeting for the purpose of exercising all, 
any, or either of said functions, shall be deemed and 
taken to be a usurpation of the sovereign power of this 
state, and is hereby declared to be treason against the 
state, and shall be punished by imprisonment during 
life, as is now by law prescribed. 

Sec. 4. All offences under this act shall be triable 
before the Supreme Judicial Court only. Any person 
or persons arrested under the same, and also for treason, 
against the state, may be imprisoned or held in custody 
for trial in the jail of such county of the state as the 
judge or justice issuing the warrant may order or di- 
rect ; ancl the sheriff or other officer charged with the 
service of such warrant, shall, without regard to his 
precinct, have full power and authority to take such 
person or persons and him or them to commit to any 
county jail in this state, which may be designated by 
such judge or justice ; and it shall be the duty of all 
sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, town sergeants, constables, and 
jailers, to govern themselves accordingly. All indict- 
ments under this act, and also all indictments for trea- 
son against this state, may be preferred and found in 



THOMAS WILSOX DORR. 67 

any county of this state, without regard to the county 
in which the offence was committed ; and the Supreme 
Judicial Court shall have full power, for good cause, 
from time to time, to remove for trial any indictment 
which may be found under this act, or for treason 
against the state, to such county of the state as they 
shall deem best for the purpose of insuring a fair trial 
of the same, and shall, upon the conviction of any such 
offender or offenders, have full power to order, and from 
time to time to alter the place of imprisonment of such 
offender or offenders to such county jail within this state, 
or to the state prison, as to them shall seem best for the 
safe custody of such offender or offenders, any act, law, 
or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. 

While this act, in the spirit of the Furies, outrages 
all moral considerations, it is believed also to be con- 
trary to the common law of all civilized nations, and in 
direct violation of the constitution of the United States. 
This act was immediately published and circulated 
throughout the state, its framers hoping that it would so 
terrify the people as to prevent them from proceeding 
to elect a legislature under their constitution. 

Now, why was the charter government so extremely 
anxious to defeat that constitution ? Did they not 
know that the people had publicly and positively de- 
clared it to be their will that a government should be 
organized, and go into operation according to its pro- 
visions ? And was it not the solemn duty of every 
good citizen of Ehode Island, whether in or out of 
ofhce, quietly and cheerfully to yield obedience to that 
known will ? Or was there any thing in the constitu- 
tion itself to which any serious objections were made ? 
Certainly not ; because the charter party, in urging the 



68 THE LIFE AND HMES OF 

people to vote for the landholders' constitution, had de- 
clared that the latter was "just about the same thing as 
that adopted by the people, and that all the essential 
difference was, that one was legal, while the other was 
not." All at once the charter government became very 
sensitive about nice technical points of law ; they 
would have nothing done illegally, and, therefore, they 
set at nought the will of the people, and set up their 
own as the supreme law ; yet, as has already been 
shown, the General Assembly^ under the charter, could 
not, by any act of binding force, prescribe the mode by 
which the people must proceed in order to form a writ- 
ten constitution, and^ therefore, any democratic consti- 
tution regularly formed and adopted by the people was 
just as legal and binding without as with any such 
legislative provision. It should be understood that, 
although the legislative power was nominally in the 
General Assembly, yet there were powers outside which 
often, to a great extent, controlled that body, so that after 
all, the General Assembly was little more than the 
mouthpiece of an aristocracy, invisible to the masses ; 
when, therefore, we speak of the General Assembly, it 
should be remembered that its members were not always 
their own keepers. 

After the General Assembly had passed the act afore- 
said, sometimes called the " Algerine Act," the charter 
authorities looked about to ascertain how far its menaces 
would go to deter the people from sustaining their own 
constitution. It soon became apparent that, although a 
portion of the irresolute and timid might be terrified 
and induced to abandon their course, yet that a majority 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 69 

at least would remain faithful. Every charter function- 
ary was on the qui vive. Something more must be 
done, or the government under the new constitution 
would go quietly into operation. Samuel Ward King 
was the acting governor of the state, but his authority 
was only nominal ; for not only behind him, but above, 
around, and beneath the throne, were powers greater 
than his. Any one may command a ship in a calm, but 
when the storms come and the winds blow, the old 
salts take her in charge. On the 4th of April, 1842, 
about two weeks before the time appointed for the elec- 
tion of state officers under the constitution, his excel- 
lency Governor King despatched the following letter 
to the President of the United States : — 

Providence, April 4, 1842. 
Sir : The State of Rhode Island is threatened with 
domestic violence. Apprehending that the legislature 
cannot be convened in sufficient season to apply to the 
government of the United States for effisctual protec- 
tion in this case, I hereby apply to you, as the execu- 
tive of the State of Rhode Island, for the protection 
which is required by the constitution of the United 
States. To communicate more fully with you on this 
subject, I have appointed John Whipple, John Brown 
Francis, and Elisha R. Potter, Esquires, three of our 
most distinguished citizens, to proceed to Washington, 
and to make known to you, in behalf of this state, the 
circumstances which call for the interposition of the 
government of the United States for our protection. 
I am, sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Samuel W. King, 
Governor of Rhode Island. 
The President of the United States. 



70 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

On the same day the governor wrote another long 
letter to the president, informing him that the gentle- 
men whom he had commissioned to proceed forthwith 
to Washington, and crave audience with the president, 
were ** three of the most distinguished citizens of the 
state," also notifying the president of the imminent dan- 
ger which the crazy old charter government was in. 
He stated that notwithstanding the act which his legis- 
lature had passed, " in relation to the sovereign power 
of the state," the suffrage party appeared determined to 
sustain their constitution ; that " in some portions of the 
state, and in the city of Providence particularly, they 
might constitute a majority of the physical force." 
And he urges the president to provide immediate meas- 
ures to prevent the government from passing into the 
hands of the people. He says, " The protective power 
would be lamentably deficient, if the beginning of strife 
which is like the letting out of waters, cannot be pre- 
vented, and no protection can be afforded the state until, 
to many, it would be too late." 

The commission proceeded to Washington with all 
possible haste, procured an interview with the president, 
and at length succeeded in making him beheve that he 
was the rightful arbiter between contending govern- 
ments in a sovereign state, and that it was a duty in- 
cumbent on him to employ the military forces of the 
United States to sustain a minority government holding 
under a dead charter, and to overthrow a repubUcan 
government, which the sovereign people had ordained 
and established. The gentlemen commissioners re- 
turned with the glad news, and it was soon proclaimed 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 71 

that the president of the United States would furnish 
such troops as the charter government might require to 
sustain itself against the people's constitution. 

This information was immediately spread over the 
state, and the most strenuous efforts were made to in- 
duce suffrage men to believe that an army of national 
troops, with bristling bayonets, only waited the call of 
the governor to strike down every man who dared to 
go forward and vote for officers under the people's con- 
stitution. 

Now, why were all these unparalleled efforts made at 
home and abroad to defeat the government under the 
people's constitution ? "Was there any thing essentially 
wrong in that document, or in the proceedings which 
had taken place under it ? Did the new government 
threaten to overthrow or disturb any wholesome and 
cherished institutions of the state ? Certainly not. No 
objections were made or fears raised on any of these 
accounts. But the old government brought all their 
ostensible opposition to a single focus«»5 their sensibili- 
ties had become very acute, and they saw, as they pre- 
tended, with deep concern, that the people's constitu- 
tion was illegal ! And if that party are to be believed, 
it was on that single ground that they opposed it. Now, 
if we trace back their own history a few years, we shall 
find that, in 1833, this same charter government, to all 
intents and purposes, legally fell through and termi- 
nated, and every particle of legislative authority under 
that instrument came to a final end. And if the coali- 
tion which controlled the state had been half as scrupu- 
lous in 1832, as they professed to be in 1842, the 



73 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

whole government should have been surrendered, like a 
sinking ship to the underwriters. The facts are these. 
The charter required that the governor, lieutenant gov- 
ernor, and the ten senators, or assistants, as they were 
called, should be " newly chosen " every year. There- 
fore, on the first Wednesday of May annually, the 
official functions of the governor and Senate for the pre- 
vious year expired, and the " newly-elected " incum- 
bents, whether they were the same or different indi- 
viduals, were engaged and sworn to discharge the du- 
ties of their respective offices for the ensuing year, and 
no longer. Now, it so happened, that in 1832 there 
was no election of governor, lieutenant governor, or 
Senate for that entire year. The House of Represent- 
atives had no authority except in concurrence with the 
Senate. Therefore the State of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations was destitute of a legislature. 

The good old charter had aborted, and the govern- 
ment had expired. Where were the fastidious " law and 
order " men at tfeat time, and what did they do in that 
extremity ? Why, they declared that the government 
must not thus unceremoniously fall through, and the 
dear people be put to the trouble of instituting a gov- 
ernment de novo ; therefore they brought back the last 
year's governor, and last year's senators, placed them 
in their seats, and ordered them to go on as if nothing 
had happened, until a new election could be brought 
about. Might not the whole people, if they had 
thought proper, during this interregnum have rallied 
round and formed a constitution, and set up a govern- 
ment in room of the charter government ? And if they 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 73 

had done so, would the national executive have sent his 
troops to demolish such a democracy ? Would he rash- 
ly have stained his own hands with the blood of men 
striving for freedom ? "When we recollect that Andrew 
Jackson, and not John Tyler, was president of the 
United States at that time, the question is answered; 
he would have taken upon himself the responsibility of 
sustaining the democracy of the people against all its 
enemies. 

Notwithstanding the combined efforts of the state 
and national authorities to terrify the people, and induce 
them to abandon their constitution, when the third 
Wednesday of April arrived, regularly-organized town 
meetings were held, and a full complement of state 
officers elected. And on the od day of May following, 
the members elect of the legislature, as required by 
their constitution, met in the city of Providence. 
Eight or nine hundred state troops in uniform, and two 
or three thousand citizens, attended the procession. 
As it had been previously ascertained that the charter 
authorities had closed and barred the state house, the 
people's legislature proceeded to hold their session in 
another place. On counting the votes, it was found that 
the whole number, 6359, had been given for Thomas 
Wilson Dorr, of Providence, for governor, and that 
Amasa Eddy, Jr., had been also elected to the office of 
lieutenant governor, William H. Smith, secretary, and 
Jonah Titus, attorney generaL These officers were 
then duly sworn, as provided in the constitution. 

As soon as the ceremonies of inauguration were 
completed, the governor was requested to notify the 
7 



74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

president of the United States- of the organization of a 
government under the constitution, and also to notify 
the presiding officers of both Houses of Congress of the 
same fact, and request them to lay the information be- 
fore their respective Houses; and also to notify the 
governors of the several states of the same, to be com- 
municated to their legislatures. 

In the afternoon of the same day Governor Dorr de- 
livered the following Message to both Houses in joint 
session: — 

Senators and Representatives: 

It is with no ordinary emotions that I proceed to 
discharge the duties imposed upon me by the constitu- 
tion of this state, in submitting such suggestions for 
your consideration as the occasion requires. 

This is the first session of a legislatiu'e ever convened 
under a written constitution of government, proceeding 
from the people of Rhode Island. That a majority of 
the people should have been so long debarred from a 
participation in those rights which are elsewhere so well 
recognized, and that we have been so slow in arriving 
at a point long since attained in other states, are facts 
ill adapted to elevate our feelings of state pride, as suc- 
cessors of those venerated men who here proclaimed, 
for the first time, the just principles of religious and 
political freedom which are now the common inherit- 
ance of American citizens. On the other hand, the 
peculiar circumstances in which the people of this state 
have been placed, and the extraordinary difficulties with 
which they have had to contend, render the establish- 
ment of their constitution a subject of the deepest sat- 
isfaction to the people themselves, and to all who 
sympathize in the progress of rational liberty. If the 
people of Rhode Island are true to themselves, the de- 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 75 

mocracy of Eoger Williams lias this day been restored in 
the place where it originated. The sacred fire, so lonfj* 
extinguished, has been rekindled upon our altar. The 
sovereignty of the people has been vindicated. The 
distinctions of caste and privilege have been abolished. 
Our institutions are rendered conformable to the stan- 
dard of our sister republics. While the rights of those 
heretofore denominated the freemen of the state have 
not been impaired, the rights of others have been placed 
on a sure basis, by constitutional provisions securing the 
common welfare of the whole people. 

On this peculiar occasion, it is due to ourselves, and 
to our fellow-citizens abroad, wdio entertain so lively an 
interest in our affairs, to pass briefly in review the his- 
tory of Our proceedings, and to submit them to the 
scrutiny of public opinion — the arbiter of political 
questions in a free country, and to which, in the con- 
fidence inspired by a righteous cause, we are ever ready 
to appeal. The idea of imposing a government on the 
people of this state by mere power, and without right, 
is one which will be promptly discarded by the consti- 
tionalists of Ehode Island. They maintain the ground 
that they are not only a majority, but that they have 
proceeded rightfully to alter and reform their govern- 
ment, according to well-defined principles in our repub- 
lican system. 

The people of Rhode Island have, for many years 
past, complained of manifest defects in their form of 
government ; the most serious of which w^ere the lim- 
itation of the right of suffrage, an unequal representa- 
tion, and the absence of all fundamental laws to limit 
and regulate the powers and functions of the General 
Assembly. The operation of the suffrage law of this 
state has for a long time excluded from the right of 
voting three fifths of its adult population. The largest 
vote ever polled by the freeholders was at the election 
of the president in 1840, when eisfht thousand six 



76 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

hundred and sixty-two votes were cast, in a total adult 
male population, of permanently resident citizens of the 
United States, exceeding twenty-three thousand. It is 
impracticable for the disfranchised majority, even if of 
pecuniary ability and so disposed, to qualify themselves 
as voters upon real estate. Although the Senate, con- 
sisting of ten members, was elected upon general ticket 
by the freemen at large, yet a majority of the House of 
Representatives was chosen by towns containing less 
than one third of the population of the state ; so that 
the conjoint effect of suffrage and representation in this 
state has been to place all political power in the hands 
of a minority of its citizens, and to hold out the great- 
est temptation to that minority to resist all changes 
which would divest the few of the exclusive control of 
affairs. But if these evils had not existed, if suffrage 
had been extended, and representation had been equal- 
ized, still the want of fundamental laws to regulate the 
legislature itself, and to protect the citizen against legis- 
lative tyranny or caprice, would alone have afforded 
ample justification to the strong impulse among the peo- 
ple in favor of a state constitution — such a constitu- 
tion as should define the rights of the citizen, establish 
the departments and powers of government, and lay 
down definite and permanent rules for its administra- 
tion, to which all might appeal. 

The charter government of this state had no counter- 
part in any state of the Union. We have never had a 
constitution, in the American sense of the term. The 
substitutes for it were a charter granted by Charles II. 
of England ; various statutes to explain, define, and 
alter the charter, and to supply its deficiencies ; and 
certain usages ; all which, taken together, composed 
our form of government, and were all subject to the 
will and pleasure of the General Assembly. 

The charter of 1663 was the creation, in ordinary 
form, of a political corporation, with general powers of 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 11 

self-government to the colony ; and it granted to the 
colonists the utmost freedom in all religious concern- 
ments. The zeal and perseverance manifested by Roger 
Williams and John Clarke in obtaining this charter en- 
title them to our lasting gratitude. Our ancestors de- 
clared themselves a democracy long before the date of 
the charter, and they lived as such under it; and, 
although their proceedings were subject to the govern- 
ment at home, they enjoyed their institutions, with little 
interruption, to the time of the revolution. It is not 
the charter with which we find fault. In the day when it 
was granted, it was a noble monument of freedom, and 
M%el\ adapted to the circumstances of the people at 
the time. It has long since performed its office, and 
ought to have been laid aside in the colonial archives 
when our connection with the mother country was sev- 
ered. It is the action of the General Assembly under 
this charter, and since the revolution of 1776, which 
has occasioned all our difficulties. It has been in the 
power of the General Assembly, at any moment, by 
their entire control over the right of suffrage, and by 
extending it, to remove every existing cause of com- 
plaint among the people ; inasmuch as a liberal exten- 
sion would have led to the adoption of a liberal consti- 
tution. The charter empowers the Assembly to admit 
persons free of the company, and prescribes no terms 
or qualifications whatever. Before this charter, and 
under that of 1643, the rule of. admission was "being 
found meet for the service of the body politic." 

After the charter of 1663, the laws make mention of 
" competent estates," without defining their nature or 
amount; and in 1666 the admission of the freemen 
was transferred, for greater convenience, to the several 
towns, who were authorized to make admission of those 
who were " deserving thereof." It was not till the 
year 1724, eighty-eight years after the settlement of 
the state, that a definite property qualification was es- 
7* 



78 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

tabllshccl by a law of that year, wliicli enacted tliat no 
man should be admitted a freeman unless possessed of 
a freehold estate of the value of one hundred pounds, 
or forty shillings a year, or unless he were the oldest 
son of such freeholder. The amount of the qualifica- 
tion was afterwards raised to two hundred, then to four 
hundred pounds ; and in the year 1763 it was dimin- 
ished to forty pounds, equivalent, in our present cur- 
rency, to one hundred and thirty-four dollars, at which 
point it has ever since remained. 

Whatever may have been the original inducement for 
the passage of such a law, it does not appear to have 
been regarded at the time as a serious inconvenience, 
any more than such a law would be regarded in any 
state purely agricultural. At the time of the revolu- 
tion, and for some years subsequent, the voters of the 
state were a majority of the inhabitants. The state be- 
came deeply involved in the war of the Revolution. 
The attention of the people was turned from their own 
institutions to matters of more general and absorbing 
interest ; and the old charter system remained, as before, 
the government of the state. As population increased, 
and the inhabitants became more and more diverted 
from agriculture to other pursuits, the evil of this sys- 
tem became more manifest — the number of voters bear- 
ing a constantly decreasing proportion to the whole 
number of adult male citizens. The vote polled fifty 
years ago, at ordinary elections, was not, as has been 
stated, two thousand less than the average vote at our 
elections at the present day, in a population nearly 
double in numbers. 

A political injustice so marked as this did not fail to 
suggest the proper remedy by an extension of suffrage. 
In the course of time, the apportionment of represent- 
atives, which was fairly made in the charter, according 
to population, had become extremely unequal. A move- 
ment in favor of a constitution was made near the close 



THOMAS WILSON DOKR. 79 

of the last century, but y\^ithout any practical results. 
In the year 1811 a bill to extend suffrage to all citizens 
who paid taxes and performed military duty was passed 
in the Senate, but was lost in the House of Representa- 
tives. In the year 1819, and the three following years, 
the subject of a state constitution was again agitated, 
and the oppressive inequality of our present system was 
clearly demonstrated, but with the usual want of suc- 
cess. In 1824 a convention of the freemen was called 
by the General Assembly to form a constitution. This 
convention proposed to the freemen a constitution which 
redressed, in part, the inequalities of our representa- 
tion ; but a resolution to extend suffrage to others be- 
sides landholders received only three votes. This con- 
stitution was voted down by a large majority. 

In 1829 a renewed interest upon the question of their 
rights was awakened among the disfranchised inhab- 
itants, especially in the city of Providence. Frequent 
meetings were held, and a petition numerously signed 
was addressed to the General Assembly. It was so far 
deemed worthy of notice as to be referred to a commit- 
tee, and to be made the subject of a report, drawn up 
by a very distinguished member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. This committee treated the application of 
the petitioners with scorn and contumely; described 
them as a low and degraded portion of the community ; 
and reminded them that, if they were dissatisfied with 
the institutions of the state, they were at liberty to 
leave it. The report was received and printed,' and 
considered, with much exultation, as the most effective 
rebuke ever administered to the advocates of liberal 
suffrage in Rhode Island. 

In 1832 an attempt to obtain a participation in the 
elective right shared a similar fate. 

In 1834 a party was organized for the express pur- 
pose of accomplishing the same object by direct politi- 
cal action on the electors of the state. After a resolute 



89 THS -LIFE AST) TIMES OF" 

straggle of four years, this party became extinct, witli' 
ont having apparently created much impression upon 
the freemen, or having tended, in any perceptible de- 
gi'ee, to change their fixed determination never to- 
abandon the existing suffrage laws. 

But the movement of this party gave occasion for 
some alarm; and the General Assembly forthwith 
called a convention of freemen, who met at Providence^ 
in September, 1834, to propose amendments to the 
existing institutions of the state, or to form a constitu- 
tion, as they might deem expedient. A motion to ex- 
tend suffrage beyond the landed qualification was de- 
cisively negatived, only seven members voting in it& 
favor. The convention was unable to maintain a 
quorum, and adjourned without proposing a constitu- 
tion, or any part of one, to their constituents. 

A whole generation had thus passed away in fruitless 
efforts to obtain, as a grant from the chartered authori- 
ties, those rights which are every where else, through- 
out the length and breadth of this great rej^ublic^ 
regarded as the birthright of the people. The legislature 
had been repeatedly approached in terms of respectful 
petition, and the applicants had been driven away as 
intruders upon the vested rights of the ruling political 
class. The General Assembly, which was invested with 
as full power to alter the law of suffrage in favor of the 
people, as to establish the law originally, without any 
prescription in the charter, had turned a deaf ear to the 
reiterated and most earnest remonstrances of a long in- 
jured and oppressed majority. 

The conventions of the freemen had manifested, if 
possible, a still greater hostility to the claims of the 
majority. The anxious inquiry of the people began to 
be raised — Is there no remedy for these manifest 
grievances ? Must we submit forever to be trodden 
under foot by men no better than ourselves ? Is the 
law of a minority, who happen to possess the control of 



THOMAg -WlLSOJf DOIlK. 81 

a state, like the laws of the Modes and Persians, to be 
the immutable standard of right and justice, in despite 
of ail the changes which have been occasioned by time 
and circumstances in the condition of the state and its 
inhabitants ? Was this designed to be a government of 
the few^ or of the many ? Have we gained or lost by 
the boasted emancipation of our state from colonial sub- 
jection ? Questions like these were naturally inter- 
changed among those who felt the pressure of a com- 
mon injustice ; and they became bound together in 
attachment to a common cause, and in a struggle for 
the same just and equal rights. And who were these 
men? They were the younger sons of farmers, the 
great body of the mechanics and of the workingmen of 
the state. 

They found among their number nearly all the sur- 
viving patriots of the revolution, who felt themselves 
impelled to assert, in the period of venerable age, the 
same cause to which they had devoted the freshness and 
vigor of their youthful days. The men thus hopelessly 
disfranchised were those to -^vhom the defence of the 
country is committed in time of war, who protect the 
community against the ravages of conflagration, who 
sustain their equal amount of the burdens of commu- 
nity, and who sustain, by indirect taxation, the govern- 
ment of the United States. They were sensible of no 
inferiority of nature or condition, which marked them 
for the subjects rather than the citizens ^of a nominally 
republican government. They were the descendants of 
ancestors who had proclaimed to the world, for the first 
time in its history, the first principles of a democratic 
government, or of the men who contributed their sub- 
stance, their honor, and their lives to the freedom and 
independence of their country. Could they hesitate in the 
course which they were bound to pursue ? It was idle to 
tell them that they were well governed, and that the 
existing authorities were better qualified to provide for 



O^ THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ^ 

tlieir interests^ than they were to take care of them- 
selves. They felt in their inmost hearts the proud re- 
sponse of American freemen, conscious of their rights, 
and daring to maintain them. 

While it is 'the right of a British subject to be well 
governedj they believed it to be the right of American 
citizens to govern themselves ; and they determined to 
remove the badge of servitude fastened upon them by a 
landed oligarchy. 

In the latter part of the year 1840, an association of 
mechanics, mostly non-freeholders, was organized in 
this city, for the final attainment of their political rights ; 
and similar associations were soon formed in many other 
towns of the state. A portion of the members of these 
associations, still retaining a hope that the General As- 
sembly might lend an ear to the remonstrances of the 
people, presented once more a petition at the January 
session, 1841, for a redress of their political grievances. 
The petition w^as not acted upon. At the same session, 
a memorial from the town of Smithfield, praying for an 
increase in its representation, received the attention of 
the House, and a committee once more reported a bill 
for a freemen's convention to form a constitution. The 
experience of the past had forbidden disfranchised citi- 
zens to expect, from a convention so organized, any 
favorable result ; and they soon after proceeded to call 
a mass convention of the people to consider the condi- 
tion and prospects of their cause. This convention met 
in Providence on the 18th of April, 1841. A second 
mass convention was held at Newport on the 5th of 
May, when it was resolved that a convention of the 
people at large should be called for the formation of a 
republican constitution : and a state committee was ap- 
pointed to issue the call. The General Assembly met 
in May, 1841, and passed a law for the more equal 
apportionment among the towns of the delegates to the 
freeholders' convention in November. At the ad- 



THOMAS WILSOX DORR. 83 

journed session in June, a bill was introduced in tlie 
House to admit tax-payers to vote with the freemen in 
the choice of delegates to the November convention. 
This bill was negatived by the same decisive vote that 
had been before given against all propositions for an 
extension of suffrage. 

On the 5th of July, 1841, the Newport mass conven- 
tion held an adjourned meeting at Providence, and, 
having become satisfied that there was no longer any 
hope from the General Assembly, issued instructions to 
the state committee to proceed forthwith in the call of 
a popular convention ; which instructions were com- 
plied with, by issuing to all the towns in the state a 
request to elect delegates, in the proportion, as nearly 
as possible, of one to every thousand inhabitants, to 
assemble at Providence in October for the purpose 
aforesaid. Meetings of the citizens were duly held, 
pursuant to notice, in nearly all the towns of the state, 
in the latter part of August, moderators and clerks 
were appointed, and delegates were elected in the usual 
form for such occasions. A large majority of the dele- 
gates assembled in convention, at Providence, on the 
4th day of October ; and, after having formed the plan 
of a constitution, adjourned till the next month, in 
order that their labors might be submitted to the inves- 
tigation of the public. The convention reassembled 
in ^ ovember ; and after making several amendments, 
finally passed upon the constitution, and proposed it for 
adoption, or rejection, to the adult male population, who 
were citizens of the United States, and had their per- 
manent residence, or home,- in the state. The question 
upon the constitution was taken on the days appointed 
in the same, in the month of December, 1841 ; and the 
result was, the adoption of the constitution by a large 
majority. 

The freeholders' convention met in November, and, 
after preparing the plan of a constitution -— in which. 



84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OV 

however, there were some provisions proposed only^ 
and not acted upon, — adjourned to the month of Feb- 
ruary, 1842. Their adjournment took place prior to 
the second meeting of the convention of the people. 
The freeholders' convention^ at their first session, ex- 
tended suffrage beyond the existing freehold qualifica- 
tion, to the possessors of personal property of the value 
of five hundred dollars. This convention met again, 
according to adjournment, in February, completed their 
constitution, and submitted it to those of the people 
who were qualified to vote under it ; by whom, in the 
month succeeding, it was rejected. 

This constitution was voted against by a large majority 
of the friends of the people's constitution — not because 
it was made by the freemen, and not by themselves, but be- 
cause its leading provisions were unjust and anti-repub- 
lican, and tended to prolong, under a different guise, 
some of the greatest of those evils which had been the 
occasion of so much complaint under the old charter 
system. It is a fact which challenges contradiction, 
and is familiar to every man in this state, that the 
fiiends of political reform and equal rights have ever 
been desirous, previous to the adoption of their consti- 
tution, that all changes in their form of government 
should be made through the action of the Assembly, or 
the body of the freemen. The course adopted by them 
during a long series of years - — their respectful applica- 
tions to the Assembly — their delay in the call of a 
popular convention, until every probability of redress 
had been cut off", and patience had ceased to be a virtue, 
will satisfy all candid men that the minority are in" the 
wrong on this point, and that the people have pursued 
the only course consistent with a proper regard to their 
rights as citizens of a free country. 

Two questions here arise, to which it is our duty to 
reply — a question of right, and a question of fact. 
Had the people of this state a right to adopt a constitu- 



THOMAS WILSON DORK. 85 

tlon of government in tlie mode they have pursued ? 
and, if so, have they adopted this*constitution by a 
majority of their whole number ? 

That the sovereignty of this country resides in the 
people, is an axiom in the American system of govern- 
ment, which it is too late to call in question. By the 
theory of other governments, the sovereign power is 
vested in the head of the state, or shared with him by 
the legislature. The sovereignty of the country from 
which we derive our origin, and, I may add, many of 
our opinions upon political subjects inconsistent with 
our present condition, is in the king and Parliament ; 
and any attempt on the part of the people to change 
the government of that "country would be deemed an 
insurrection. There all reform must proceed from the 
government itself, which calls no conventions of the 
people, and recognizes no such remedy for political 
grievances. In this country, the case is totally the re- 
verse. When the revolution severed the ties of allegi- 
ance which bound the - colonies to the parent country, 
the sovereign power passed from its former possessors 
— not to the general government, which was the crea- 
tion of the states ; nor to the state governments ; nor 
to a portion of the people ; but to the whole people of 
the states, in whom it has ever since remained. This 
is the doctrine of our fathers, and of the early days of 
the republic, and §hould be sacredly guarded as the 
only safe foundation of our political fabric. The idea 
that government is in any proper sense the source of 
power in this country, is of foreign origin, and at war 
with the letter and spirit of our institutions. The mo- 
ment we admit the principle that no change in govern- 
ment can take place without permission of the existing 
authorities, we revert to the worn-out theory of the 
.monarchies of Europe : and whether we are the sub- 
jects of the Czar of Russia, or of the monarch of Great 
Britain, or of a landed oligarchy, the difference to us 
8 



86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

is only in degree ; and we have lost the reality, though 
we may retain th# forms, of a democratic republic. If 
the people of Khode Island are wrong in the course 
they have pursued, they will nevertheless have con- 
ferred one benefit upon their countrymen by the agita- 
tion of this question, in dissipating the notion that the 
people are the sovereigns of the country, and in con- 
signing to the department of rhetorical declamations 
those solemn declarations of 1776, which are repeated 
in so many of the state constitutions, and which are so 
clearly and confidently asserted by the most eminent 
jurists and statesmen of our country. 

By sovereign power, we understand that ultimate 
power, which must be vested somewhere,, and which 
prescribes the form and functions of government. It 
is, of course, superior to the legislative power, which 
can be properly exerted only according to rules laid 
down for its action, in that expression of the sovereign 
will called a constitution. This sovereignty is a per- 
sonal attribute, and belongs to the man himself, and not 
to the soil or property with which he may be endowed. 
It is a power seldom visible ; which ought to be, and 
can be, but rarely exerted. The making and altering 
of laws, which lie at the foundations of society, should 
be a work of great care and caution ; and when done, 
ought to be well done, that it may be effectual and per- 
manent. It is our misfortune in this state, that as no 
expression of the sovereign will has been, until re- 
cently, made in the adoption of a constitution, and no 
index of this will constantly before the public eye, the 
distinction between the two powers has become obliter- 
ated among us ; and the legislature has been regarded 
not only as the immediate acting power, but as the sole 
power of the state ; and all who maintain the right of 
the people, in their original, sovereign capacity, to alter 
the present government, and render it conformable to 
their just rights, have been represented as hostile to 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 87 

law and order, and as putting in jeopardy the stability 
of government. On the other hand, we contend that 
the people have a right to change the government when 
necessary to their welfare ; that they are the judges of 
that necessity ; that' " time does not run against the 
people, any more than against the king," and that they 
have not forfeited this right by any acquiescence ; that 
a power to assent, involves another to dissent ; that 
even if a past generation had surrendered to a minority 
their political rights, (which they never have done,) they 
did not, and could not, bind their successors, or prevent 
them from reassuming their sovereignty. 

If time permitted, I should take great satisfaction in 
laying before you the most abundant evidence that these 
are the well-recognized principles of our republican 
system, and are not to be regarded as revolutionary. 

The Declaration of American Independence asserts 
that governments derive their just powers from the con- 
sent of the governed, and that it is the right of the 
people (meaning the whole people, the governed) to 
alter or abolish their government whenever they deem 
it expedient, and to institute new government, laying 
its foundations on such principles, and organizing its 
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
to effect their safety and happiness. This Declaration 
Avas expressly adopted by the General Assembly of this 
state in July, 1776. 

The constitutions of many of the states, while they 
contain specific provisions for the mode of their amend- 
ment, set forth, in the strongest terms, the right of the 
people to change them as they may deem expedient. 

Any other construction would render a portion of the 
declarations of rights in these constitutions entirely nu- 
gatory. 

The convention which framed the constitution of the 
United States 'acted as the representathves of the sov- 
ereignty of the people of the states, without regard to 



88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the limitation attempted to be imposed by the Congress of 
the confederation. That the whole people, by an ex- 
plicit and authentic act, — the great body of society, — 
have a right to make and alter their constitutions of 
government, is a principle which lias been laid down 
by the fathers of the constitution, and the ablest ex- 
pounders of our political institutions — by Washington, 
Hamilton, and Madison. The strong opinions of Jef- 
ferson on this point are too well known to need a par- 
ticular repetition. 

Chief Justice Jay says, " At the revolution the 
sovereignty devolved on the people ; and they are truly 
the sovereigns of the country." "The citizens of 
America are equal as fellow-citizens^ and as joint 
tenants in the sovereignty." 

Justice Wilson, of the same court, says, ''Of the 
right of the majority of the whole people to change 
their government, at will, there is no doubt." It is 
this " one great principle, the vital principle," " which 
diffuses animation and vigor through all the others." 
He says, " The principle I mean is this — that the 
supreme or sovereign power of society resides in the 
citizens at large ; and that, therefore, they always re- 
tain the right of abolishing, altering, or amending their 
constitution, at whatever time, and in whatever man- 
ner, they shall deem expedient. " " In our govern- 
ment, the supreme, absolute, uncontrollable power re- 
mains in the people. As our constitutions are supe- 
rior to our legislatures, so the people are superior to our 
constitutions." The consequence is, that the people 
may change the constitution, whenever and however 
they please. This is a right of which no positive 
institutions can deprive them. 

Mr. Rawle, a distinguished commentator on the con- 
stitution of the United States, in speaking of the mode 
of amending a constitution, remarks, " The people re- 
tain — the people cannot, perhaps, divest themselves of 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 89 

— tlie power to make such alterations." ** The laws of 
one legislature may be repealed by another legislature, 
and the power to repeal them cannot be withheld by 
the power that enacted them. So the people may, on 
the same principle, at any time alter or abolish the con- 
stitution they have formed. If a particular mode of 
effecting such alterations have been agreed upon, it is 
most convenient to adhere to it ; but it is not exclu- 
sively binding." 

It is impossible to misunderstand language like this. It 
might be suggested that the people referred to are those 
who are recognized as voters by constitution or laws ; but 
the language used is too clear to admit of such an inter- 
pretation. It is the whole people, the people at large, 
who have the right to change the institutions under which 
they live. Nor is this a dangerous doctrine in its prac- 
tical application. This, I believe, is the only state in 
which the majority of the whole people do not partake 
of the electoral privilege. All other states have written 
constitutions, with precise provisions for their amend- 
ment. It is hardly possible for a case to occur in any 
other state, which would require the interposition of the 
people in any other than the prescribed mode. In all 
others suffrage has been enlarged, and all complaints 
respecting a limitation of suffrage or inequality of rep- 
resentation have been redressed without any very pro- 
tracted delay. The constitution will here also be re- 
garded as a final measure. While we assert the sov- 
ereign right of the people in our own case, and presume 
not to limit its exercise under possible exigencies not 
now foreseen, and of which every generation must judge 
for itself, we have no reason to believe that Rhode Island 
will be an exception to the general rule in other states, 
or to doubt that its constitution will become a perma- 
nent as well as paramount law, to be altered or amended 
according to its prescribed mode. 

But, whatever opinions may be entertained respecting 
8* 



90 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the right of the whole people to change a constitution 
in any other than the prescribed mode, where such a 
mode exists, there is a point in our case to which the 
attention of every one should be closely invited. Until 
the adoption of the present constitution, there has been 
no mode prescribed in this state, either by the charter 
or by any law or usage, for amending our form of gov- 
ernment. The charter contains no such direction ; be- 
ing a royal grant, the power to amend by a supple- 
mental charter remained in the grantor, and needed no 
specification. The charter contains a very general au- 
thority to make all necessary laws ; but they must be 
consistent with the royal prerogative, and with the 
rights of Parliament. The power of amending the 
charter passed over to the people of the state, as an in- 
cident to their sovereignty, at the revolution. 

In the absence of any such provision, it is a totally 
unfounded assumption in the charter Assembly to pre- 
tend that the proceedings of the people are null and 
void for want of a compliance with law, when no legal 
or other provision exists upon the subject. All that the 
General Assembly have ever done, has been to request, 
in their own form, the freemen to assemble and elect 
delegates to form a constitution. 

The freemen, if they saw fit, might at any time have 
chosen such delegates, without such a request, in their 
own form, and with an equally valid efifect. Is it not 
apparent that the people at large have a still greater 
right to do the same thing in this state ? They have 
demanded in vain that any valid legal objections to their 
proceedings should be produced. It is to the last de- 
gree imgenerous and unjust that the freemen should set 
up their own neglect in years past to provide a consti- 
tutional mode of amendments as a bar to the action of 
the people, in the only mode in which they can act at 
all. When any disposition is manifested to amend our 
constitution in a different mode from that prescribed in 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 91 

it, it will be time for alarmists to suggest the danger 
and instability that may possibly occur from any irregu- 
lar action of the people. 

But was this sovereign power of the people exer- 
cised, in flict, by a majority of the whole people of the 
state ? We assert, with entire confidence, that it was. 
The voting was conducted as fairly as at any election 
ever held in this state. All challenges of voters were 
received and entertained. The moderators of the meet- 
ings, who received the votes, were not under oath ; 
neither are those of the freemen's meetings. The 
town clerks, and wardens, and ward clerks, in the city 
of Providence, act under an engagement ; and this is 
the only difference between the meetings of the free- 
men and those of the people. This difference will 
create no serious objection, when it is stated that the 
name of every man who voted for the people's consti- 
tution was written on his ticket ; and that the ticket of 
every man who did not attend the polls on the three 
last of the six days of voting, in addition to his sig- 
nature, was attested by that of some person who voted 
at the polls on the three first days. These proxy votes 
were but a small portion of the whole. Still further : 
the name of every man who voted was registered ; and 
a copy of the register in every town and ward was duly 
certified with the votes. All the votes have been pre- 
served in their envelopes for any subsequent reference. 
The votes were duly returned to the people's conven- 
tion, and were examined and counted by a large com- 
mittee. The committee reported that, as nearly as 
could be ascertained, the number of males in this state 
over the age of twenty-one years, citizens of the United 
States, and permanently resident, deducting persons un- 
der guardianship, insane, and convict, was 23,142, of 
whom a majority is 11,572; and that the people's con- 
stitution received 13,944 votes — being a majority of 
4747. After making every reasonable allowance for 



92 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

questionable votes, from which no election can be en- 
tirely free, it is impossible to entertain a reasonable 
doubt that a large majority of the whole people fairly 
voted for this constitution. The report of the counting 
committee was transmitted to the General Assembly at 
the January session, 1842, and a motion was made to 
inquire into the return of the votes polled ; but it was 
negatived, as usual, by a large majority. 

An attempt to impeach the retui-n has been made, by 
drawing an unfavorable inference from the subsequent 
diminished vote against the constitution of the free- 
holders. But the attempt fails at once, when it is un- 
derstood that a considerable number of those who voted 
for the people's constitution, and are now friendly to it, 
voted also for the freeholders' constitution, as a mode 
of obtaining a part of their rights and of terminating 
all controversies. Many who voted for the first-named 
constitution were excluded from a vote against the 
second by its suffrage provisions ; and there were others 
who were qualified, but declined to vote at all. 

At the election of state ofiicers under the people's 
constitution, there were no opposing candidates ; and, 
notwithstanding the powerful influences brought to bear 
upon the election, there was a larger vote by 1600 than 
was polled for the officers of our opponents at the elec- 
tion held by the freemen. At this election, a portion of 
those^ freeholders who are the friends of the people's 
constitution, and who had voted for ofiicers at the elec- 
tion held under that constitution on Monday, voted 
again for a constitutional candidate, and have been very 
strangely claimed, in consequence, by the party who 
sustain the old charter system. 

When the constitution of the people is examined, 
without reference to its origin, it is found that there are 
few objections made against it. It guards with great 
care all civil and political rights ; it establishes as equal 
a representation as the circumstances of the state will 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 93 

permit, and a Senate to be chosen in districts under such 
an appointment as to secure to a majority of the pop- 
ulation a majority of its members. The freeholders' 
constitution, on the other hand, was rejected for many 
reasons — one of which was its defective provisions 
relating to suffrage, and its exclusion of the vote by 
ballot. The main objection was, that it entirely abol- 
ished the majority principle in our government. Under 
it, both the House of Representatives and the Senate 
were to be elected by towns and districts containing less 
than one thhd of the inhabitants of the state. The 
senators were also assigned to the districts, without 
scarcely any reference to their population. 

By the nature of the provisions relative to amend- 
ment, any subsequent improvement of this instrument 
was rendered nearly impracticable. 

At the session of the Assembly in March, 1842, the 
people's constitution came under the consideration of 
that body, twice ratified — directly by the votes of the 
people in its favor, and indirectly by the rejection of 
another instrument. But these repeated manifestations 
of the popular will were totally disregarded. A bill to 
conform the general election to the provisions of this 
constitution, and another to submit it to those who were 
qualified to vote under the constitution of the freehold- 
ers, were promptly rejected. A proposition was made 
to extend suffrage ; and a second proposition was offered 
at the adjourned session in April, for the call of another 
convention to form a constitution — the delegates to 
which convention were to be voted for by a constitu- 
ency not much extended beyond the present freeholder. 
Both propositions shared the fate of the preceding. 

Your attention will be required to the force law and 
resolutions recently adopted by the General Assembly 
for the suppression of the^ constitution. Laws like 
these, which violate in some of their provisions the 
well-known privileges enjoyed by the subjects of the 



94 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



British monarchy, could hardly find flivor in the land 
of Roger WiUiams. These enactments have been re- 
garded by the considerate men among our opponents as 
most impohtic and unjust, and by the people as null 
and void, because conflicting with the paramount pro- 
visions of the constitution. 

Military preparations have been made by direction 
of the Assembly, and the people have been conse- 
quently put upon the defensive. But this is not the 
age nor the country in which the will of the people 
can be overawed or defeated by measures Uke these. 
There is reason to beheve that a letter addressed to 
Governor King by the president of the United States 
was written under a mistake of the facts, occasioned by 
the misrepresentation of the character, motives, and 
objects of the constitutionahsts of this state. 

Our fellow-citizens in other states will perceive, from 
the exposition which has been made, without further 
comment, that the people of this state are engaged in a 
just and honorable cause, and that they have taken the 
only coui'se for the attainment and security of their just 
rights. 

We are assembled in pursuance of the constitution, 
and under a sacred obligation to carry its provisions 
into effect. Knowing the spirit which you have man- 
ifested throughout this exciting controversy ; the mod- 
erate, but determined, course which you have pursued ; 
your love of order, and respect for all constitutional 
laws, and for the rights of all other persons, while 
engaged in the acquisition of your own, I hardly need 
to remind you of your duty to cast behind you all in- 
juries or provocations, and to leave them to the retribu- 
tive justice of public opinion, which will ultimately 
appreciate every sincere sacrifice to the cause of truth, 
of freedom, and humanity.* Entertaining the deep and 
earnest conviction that we are engaged in such a cause, 
and conscious of our own imperfections, let us implore 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 95 

the favor of that gracious Providence which guided the 
steps of our ancestors, upon this our attempt to restore, 
and permanently secure, the blessings of that well- 
ordered and rational freedom here established by the 
patriotic founders of our state. 

The provisions in the constitution, relating to the se- 
curity of the right of suffrage against fraud, and to the 
registration of voters, will require your immediate ac- 
tion. The state demands of its government an econom- 
ical administration of affairs, and will justly complain 
of any increase of its ordinary expenses at the present 
period. 

I cannot more appropriately conclude this commu- 
nication than in the words of the constitution, which 
declares that " no favor or disfavor ought to be shown 
in legislation towards any man, or party, or society, or 
religious denomination. The laws should be made, not 
for the good of the few, but of the many ; and the 
burdens of the state ought to be fairly distributed 
among its citizens." 

Thomas W. Dorr. 

Providence, R. I., May 4, 1842. 

Rhode Island, at this moment, presented a strange 
anomaly. While the legislature at Providence were 
holding a regular session, as provided by the con- 
stitution, the old charter General Assembly was sit- 
ting at Newport. There were two separate Assemblies, 
sitting at the two capitals, and exercising distinct legis- 
lative functions ; each claiming to be the legitimate 
government. In view of what has been stated, it must 
be apparent that the people of the state had declared it to 
be their wish and determination, that the old charter gov- 
ernment should cease, and come to a full end^ on the 3d 
of May of that year, and that the government under their 



96 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

constitution should take its place, and be organized in 
its stead ; and to that unmistakable expression of the 
people's will every good citizen was bound to yield. 
But all history shows that when men, either justly or 
unjustly, become clothed with political authority, they 
part with it. with extreme reluctance ; physical force 
has almost always been necessary to transfer political 
power from one class of men to another. The natural 
propensity of mankind was strengthened in this case by 
another consideration. The state had, for a long time, 
been governed exclusively by freeholders, and those 
who held important offices in the government of the 
state had always opposed every effort made by the non- 
freeholders to obtain their political rights ; and as the 
number of non-freeholders was known greatly to ex- 
ceed the number of freeholders, it required no prophet 
to tell that unless the non-freeholders could be brought 
to accept the franchise as a special favor from the gov- 
ernment, the old official incumbents would not be likely 
to be retained in office. This was the source, and the 
only source, of that danger, which the Rhode Island 
authorities saw and so much feared; not a danger 
which threatened the interests of the state or the people, 
but which threatened to bring down the office holders 
from their high places, and consign them to private life. 
Such men now entertained a most fastidious regard 
for " law and order," and were sorely pained at the 
thought that the state was in danger of being disgraced 
by allowing the sovereign people to wrest the govern- 
ment from their hands, and place it in the hands of 
men of their own choosing. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 97 



CHAPTER VI. 

REASONS FOR BELIEVING THE CHARTER GOVERNMENT 
TO BE HELD BY A MINORITY. THE NEGLECT OF 
THE people's legislature TO TAKE POSSESSION OF 
THE PUBLIC PROPERTY, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES CON- 
SIDERED. AN EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

We have seen that, as early as the 4th of April, 
1842, two or three weeks before an election took place 
under the people's constitution, the chief magistrate of 
the State of Rhode Island applied to the president of 
the United States for assistance to put down the gov- 
ernment which the people were preparing to organize 
under the constitution which they had just adopted. 
The charter authorities well knew that theirs was a 
minority government, and they were well aware of their 
inability to resist the free will of an intelligent people, 
and therefore took the early precaution to engage assist- 
ance from abroad, notwithstanding they had at the 
same time the full possession of all the public property 
— the control of the treasury, the keys of the state 
house and court rooms, the command of the arsenal, 
and the control of the prisons — notwithstanding they 
had both the sword and purse firmly clinched in their 
own hands. With all these advantages on their side, 
9 



98 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

they publicly declared to tlie president an^ to tli'e world 
that, unless they had assistance from abroad, their gov- 
ernment was in danger of being overthrown by the peo- 
ple under their own constitution. These facts, which 
cannot be denied or hushed out of sight, go to establish 
the point, beyond all controversy, that the number in 
favor of the people's constitution far exceeded the num- 
ber of those who were opposed to it. It is obvious that 
while the people were left free to follow the plain dic- 
tates of their own convictions, — before they were 
drawn away by promises, or terrified by threats, — 
three fourths, at least, chose to lay aside the old charter, 
and submit the government of the state to a written con- 
stitution of their own making. The wonder is, that 
an intelligent and resolute people did not sooner rise in 
their might and shake off the cords by which they were 
enslaved. 

On the day previous to the organization of the legis- 
lature under the people's constitution, Mr. Dorr and the 
members elect of his legislature held a special meeting 
for deciding upon measures proper to be pursued. It 
had been already ascertained that the state house in 
Providence had been closed and barred against them, 
and the great question to be settled was, Should they 
proceed to take immediate possession of that, and all 
the other public property of the state, or should they 
suffer it to remain in the hands of their opponents ? 
Mr. Dorr strongly urged the propriety and necessity of 
taking the former course ; and it is presumed that no 
one now, friend or foe, will say that that advice was 
not judicious ; but he and others, who thouc^ht as he did. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 99 

were overruled, and that all-important step was not 
taken. Here was a fatal mistake, which no subsequent 
measures could remedy. Had Mr. Dorr's advice pre- 
vailed, the people's government would by that single 
step have become master of the forces and finances of 
the state, and instead of being a government in form 
only, it would have been a government in fact and in 
power, respected at home and abroad, and might have 
regarded with indifference any measures which the na- 
tional executive might adopt. For nearly half a cen- 
tury the people of Ehode Island had been striving to 
obtain their just political rights. The momentous ques- 
tion had become wrapped up in the decision of a single 
hour — the die was cast, and the cause was ruined. 
This was the cruel rock upon which the ship was lost. 
From that moment an unbroken train of disasters 
followed. Had the course been pursued which Mr. 
Dorr pointed out, no important opposition would have 
been made to his government, and many of those, who, 
in his reverses, were most anxious to destroy him, 
would have been among the foremost to seek for honor 
and patronage under his government. 

No one who witnessed the powerful military escort 
and long procession of citizens which attended the in- 
auguration of the government under the people's con- 
stitution could doubt for a moment the abihty of 
Governor Dorr at that time to take undisputed posses- 
sion of all the public property of the state. Those who 
voted for the members of that legislature expected that 
they would really and fully assume and exercise all 
the powers and functions of a de facto government. 



100 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

This was their imperious duty. No tiftiid, irresolute 
man, no one panting for empty distinction, should have 
been there to assume the responsibilities of that im- 
portant occasion : this was no time for vain show and 
empty boasting. None but men of high motives and 
undaunted courage should have mingled in the dehber- 
ations of that momentous crisis. Before the legisla- 
ture convened, many honest but timid men had become 
terrified and induced to desist from all further proceed- 
ings ; and now, when the whole party saw their legis- 
lature ingloriously shrink away into a private hall to 
exercise the high functions of a state legislature, they 
were disappointed and disheartened. The tide, which 
before had only slackened, instantly began to ebb with 
irresistible force. High-minded men could not be 
proud of a government so meek and so powerless ; they 
could not be persuaded that this was the government 
for which they had labored so ardently ; and in view of 
that spectacle, hundreds retired in disgust from the party. 
The following is an extract from the Journal of the 
House of Representatives, which met in Providence on 
the 3d day of May, 1842. 

Journal of the House of Eepjiesentatives of the 
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, first 
held in the City of Providence, under the Constitution 
of said State, on Tuesday, the 3d day of May, in 
the year 1842. 

On this third day of May, 1842, (being the first 
Tuesday of said May,) the House of Representatives of 
said state, elected under and by virtue of the constitu- 
tion of said state, met, and proceeded to its organization 
by a vote that the Hon. Dutee J. Pearce, of Newport, 
take the chair for that purpose. 



THOMAS WILSON DoiUi. 10 1 

The towns find representative districts were called^ 
and the credentials of their respective representatives, 
in the following order, were presented : — 

City of Providence : 

First representative district. — William M. Webster. 

Second representative district. — Samuel H. Wales, 
J. F. B. Flagg. 

Third representative district. — - William Coleman, 
J ohn A. Howland. 

Fourth representative district. — Perez Simmons, 
Frederick L. Beckford. 

Fifth representative district. — • Benjamin Arnold, Jr., 
Franklin Cooley. 

Sixth representative district. — William L. Thornton, 
John S. Parkis. 

Newport. —Dwtee J. Pearce, Robert R Carr, Henry- 
Oman, Daniel Brown. 

Warwick. — John G. Mawney, Sylvanus C. New- 
man, Isbon Shearman, Alanson Holley. 

Portsmouth. — Thomas Cory, Parker Hall. 

Westerly. — William P. Arnold, Thomas G. Hazard, 

New Shoreham. — Simeon Babcock, Jr., George E» 
S. Ely, 

Smithfield. — Elisha Smith, Kathaniel Mowry, Wel- 
come B. Sayles, AVilliam B. Taber. 

Charlestown. — Joseph Gavit, Job Taylor. 

Scituate. — Simon Mathewson, David Phillips, 3d, 
James Yeaw. 

North Providence. — - Stephen Whipple, Pobert G« 
Lewis, Alfred Anthony. 

Richmond. — Wells Reynolds*, George Niles. 

North Kingstown. — - Sylvester Himes, Samuel C» 
Cottrel. 

Exeter. — George Sprague, Cranston Blevin. 

Tiverton. — Charles F. Townsend. 

Bristol. — William Munro, Jeremiah Bosworth. 
9* 



102 THE LIFE AXB TIMES OF 

Warren. — Elisha G. Smith, Jeremiah Woodmancy, 

Barrington. — - Nathaniel Smith. 

Glocester. — Jeremiah Sheldon, George H. Brown. 

Cumberland. -— Nelson Jencks, Columbia Tingley, 
Barton Whipple. 

East Greenwich. — Peleg E. Bennet, Sidney Tilling- 
hast. 

West Greenwich. — - Nathan Carr^ Peter T. Brown. 

Coventry. - — George Fairbanks, Israel Johnson. 

Foster. — - Obadiah Fenner, Anan Aldrich. 

Burrilhille. — Alfred L. Comstock, Esten AngelL 

Cranston. — - Ebenezer Barney, Albion N. Olney. 

Johnston. — Ephraim Winsor, Edwin C. Kelley. 

Upon a call of the names returned by the credentials, 
as aforesaid, all were present and answered, excepting 
Mr. Samuel C. Cottrel, of North Kingstown. Sixty- 
six members were present and answered. 

A quorum being ascertained to be present, the chair- 
man announced the fact ; and thereupon Welcome B. 
Sayles, Esq., a representative from the town of Smith- 
field, was nominated, and duly elected speaker by a 
unanimous vote. 

The speaker, on taking the chair, made a short but 
pertinent speech, returning thanks for the honor con- 
ferred upon him ; and thereupon engaged himself to the 
faithful discharge of his duties in the words and as re- 
quired by the constitution, and in the presence of the 
House. 

The speaker called every member by the list returned, 
and those present were engaged in the manner and form 
and in the words prescribed in the constitution. 

John S. Harris and Levi SaHsbury were unanimously 
elected clerks, and were duly engaged by th^ speaker. 

On motion of Mr. Pearce, it was Voted, that ISIessrs. 
Cooley, S. H. Wales, Elisha Smith, Lewis, Simmons, 
George H. Brown, and Jencks, from the county of 



THOMAS WILSON DORR, 103 

Providence ; Daniel Brown and Townsend, of the 
county of Newport ; Himes and Arnold, of the county 
of Washington ; Tillinghast, Holley, and Newman, of 
the county of Kent ; and Bosworth and E. G. Smith, 
of the county of Bristol, be a committee to count the 
votes for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of 
state, general treasurer, attorney general, sheriffs, and 
senators, and report the result. 

The towns and representative districts were called, 
to return the votes of the electors for governor, &c., 
when no returns were made by the follovring towns : 
Portsmouth, Hopkinton, South Kingstown, Little Comp- 
ton, Middletown, and Jamestown. Said votes were de- 
livered to the aforesaid committee to count and report. 

The House took a recess for one hour. 

At three o'clock^ P. M., the speaker resumed the 
chair. 

Gilbert Chace, Esq., a representative from the town 
of Newport, appeared, produced his credentials, and 
was qualified by the speaker. 

Mr. Simmons, on behalf of the committee appointed 
to count the votes, made the following report, which 
was received. 

House of Representatives, May 3, 1842. 

The committee to whom was referred the counting of 
the votes given at the election under the constitution, 
April 18, 1842, for governor, lieutenant governor, sen- 
ators, secretary of state, general treasurer, and attorney 
generiil, and also the votes for sheriffs in the several 
counties, respectfully report, — 

That the whole number of votes given in for governor 
is 6359 ; that of this number 6359 were given in for 
Thomas W. Dorr, of Providence, and he is therefore 
elected. 

That the whole number of votes given in for lieuten- 
ant governor is 6361 ; that of tliis number 6361 were 



104 TTTE LIFE' Al^r^ TIMES O:^ 

given in for Amasa Eddy, Jr.^ of Glocester^ and lie ify 
therefore elected. 

That the whole number of votes given in for secre- 
tary of state is 6360; that of this number 6360 were 
given in for William H. Smith, of Providence, and he 
is therefore elected. 

That the whole number of votes given in for attorney 
general is 6360 ; that of this number 6360 were given 
in for Jonah Titus, of Scituate, and he is therefore 
elected. 

That the whole number of votes given in for general 
treasurer is 6360 ; that of this number Joseph Joslin^. 
of Newport, received 6360, and is therefore elected. 

That in the first senatorial tlistrict the whole number 
of votes given in for senator is 820 ; that of this num- 
ber 820 are for Eli Brown, of Providence, and he is 
therefore elected. 

That in the second senatorial district the whole num-- 
ber of votes given in for senator is 1315 | that of this 
number 1315 are for Hezeldah Willard, of Providence^ 
and he is therefore elected. 

That in the third senatonal district the whole num- 
ber of votes given in for senator is 652 ; that of this 
number John Paine received 652, and is therefore 
elected. 

That in the fourth senatorial district the whole 
number of votes given in for senator is 907 ; of which 
Abner Haskell received 907, and is therefore elected. 

That in the fifth senatorial district the whole number 
of votes given in for senator is 856 ; of which Solomon 
Smith received 856, and is therefore elected. 

That in the -sixth senatorial district the whole num- 
ber of votes given in for senator is 648 ; of which 648 
are for Benjamin Nichols, and he is therefore elected. 

That in the seventh senatorial district the whole num- 
ber of votes given in for senator is 237 | of which 237 
are for John Wood, of Coventry, and he is therefore 
elected. 



THOMAS WrLSO:^ BORK. 105 

That in the eighth senatorial district the whole num- 
ber of votes given in for senator is o24 ; of which 
Benjamin Chace received S24, and is therefore elected. 

That in the ninth senatorial district 119 votes were 
given in for senator; of which 119 are for John B. 
Cook, and he is therefore elected. 

That in the tenth senatorial district 234 votes were 
given in for senator ; of which Joseph Spink received 
234 votes, and is therefore elected. 

That in the eleventh senatorial district 135 votes were 
given in for senator ; of which 135 were for WilUam 
James, and he is therefore elected. 

That in the twelfth senatorial district 210 votes were 
given in for senator ; of which Christopher Smith re- 
ceived 210, and is therefore elected. 

That in Providence county the whole number of 
votes given in for sheriff is 4718 ; that of this number 
4717 are for Burrington Anthony, and he is therefore 
elected. 

That in Newport county the whole number of votes 
given in for sheriff is 444 ; all for Joshua B. Rathbone^ 
and he is therefore elected. 

That in Bristol county the whole number of. votes 
given in for sheriff is 210 ; all for Nathan Bardin, and 
he is therefore elected. 

That in Kent county the whole number of votes 
given in for sheriff is 613 j all for Hazard Carder^ and 
he is therefore elected. 

That in Washington county the whole number of 
votes given in for sheriff is 307 ; all for Benjamin 
Blcvin, and he is therefore elected. 

That no votes were received in season to be counted 
by the committee from the towns of Hopkinton, Little 
Compton, Jamestown, New Shoreham, and Portsmouth ; 
in the two last towns votes w^ere polled, but not returned 
to the House of Representatives. 

Respectfully submitted. Fraxklix Coot.ey, 

For the Committee, 



106 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Voted, That Messrs. Pearce, B. Arnold, Jr., and 
Mawney, be a committee to inform the governor, lieu- 
tenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, 
general treasurer, and the senators elect, of their elec- 
tion, and learn of them at what time they will be ready 
to take the oath of office. 

Mr, Pearce, from the committee appointed to inform 
the general officers and senators of their election, made 
report : That they had waited upon the governor, lieu- 
tenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, 
and senators Brown, Willard, Haskell, Paine, S. Smith, 
Nichols, Chace, James, and C. Smith, and that they had 
severally signified the acceptance of their respective 
offices, and would immediately be engaged by oath; 
that the general treasurer was not present, and John 
Wood of the seventh district, Joseph Spink of the tenth 
district, and John B. Cooke of the ninth district, were 
not present, and it is said had declined to serve. 

The governor, Thomas W. Dorr ; the lieutenant gov- 
ernor, Amasa Eddy, Jr. ; William H. Smith, secretary 
of state ; Jonah Titus, attorney general, came into the 
House, and severally took the oath prescribed in the con- 
stitution, administered by the speaker in the presence of 
the House. 

Eli Brown, senator of the first district ; Hezekiah 
Willard, senator of the second district; John Paine, 
senator of the third district ; Abner Haskell, senator of 
the fourth district ; Solomon Smith, senator of the fifth 
district ; Benjamin Nichols, senator of the sixth dis- 
trict ; Benjamin Chace, senator of the eighth district ; 
WilHam James, senator of the eleventh district ; Chris- 
topher Smith, senator of the twelfth district, severally 
came into the House, and took the oath of office pre- 
scribed in the constitution, administered by the speaker 
in the presence of the governor, lieutenant governor, 
and of the House. 

Voted, That Messrs. Simmons and Pearce be a com- 



THOMAS WILSON DORR, 107 

mittee to wait upon the governor^ with such others as 
the Senate may add, and inquire whether he has any 
communication to make to the General Assembly. The 
vote came down concurred, with the addition of Eli 
Brown, senator of the first district, to said committee. 

Mr. Pearce, from the committee to ask the governor 
if he has any communication to make to the General 
Assembly, reported : That the governor would forth- 
with, in person, meet the two Houses, and communicate 
a message. 

The two Houses having joined, the governor, in per- 
son, communicated his message. 

The governor, lieutenant governor, and Senate re- 
turned from the House. 

Mr. Simmons offered a set of rules, which were read 
and voted to be laid on the table. 

Mr. Simmons, of Providence, offered the following 
resolutions, to wit:— - 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to inform 
the president of the United States that the government 
of this state has been duly elected and organized under 
the constitution of the same, and that the General As- 
sembly are now in session and proceeding to discharge 
their duties according to the provisions of said constitu- 
tion. 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to make 
the same communication to the president of the Senate 
and to the speaker of the House of Representatives, to 
be laid before the two Houses of the Congress of the 
United States. 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to make 
the same communication to the governors of the several 
states, to be laid before the respective legislatures. 

The resolutions above were read twice and voted 
unanimously, and sent up for concurrence. 

Mr. Pearce offered the following resolution, to wit : — 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to make 



108 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

known, by proclamation to the people of this state, that 
the government under the constitution thereof has been 
duly organized, and calling upon all persons, both civil 
and military, to conform themselves to said constitution 
and to the laws enacted under the same, and to all other 
jurisdiction and authority under and by virtue of the 
same. 

Read twice, and voted to pass unanimously, and sent 
up for concurrence. 

Mr. Brown, of Glocester, moved than when this 
House adjourn^ it will adjourn to meet at this place at 
nine o'clock, A. M., and that, in the mean time, the 
sheriif be directed to prepare the state house for the 
reception of this House. 

The motion, after debate, was adopted. 

Mr. Simmons, of Providence, offered the following 
act, to wit : -— 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly as follows : — - 

The act entitled " An act in relation to offences 

against the sovereign power of the state," passed at the 

March adjourned session of the General Assembly, 

1842, is hereby repealed. 

Read once ; and, on the second reading, Mr. Olney, 
of Cranston, moved to lay the bill on the table until 
to-morrow. 

The motion was negatived without a count. 

The bill passed as an act, and was sent up for con- 
currence. 

The secretary of state returned the resolutions voted 
by this House to inform the president, Congress, &c., 
of our organization, duly concurred in by the Senate 
and approved by the governor. 

The secretary of state also returned a resolution voted 
by this House to request the governor to issue his proc- 
lamation, &c., duly concurred in by the Senate and ap- 
proved by the governor. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 109 

The secretary of state also returned the bill repealhig 
the act entitled ** An act in relation to offences against 
the sovereign power of the state," duly concurred in 
and approved by the governor. 

The house adjourned until nine o'clock to-morrow 

Attest: J. S. Harris, Clerk. 

Wednesday Morning, May 4, 1842. 

The House met at nine o'clock, A. M. The speaker 
in the chair. 

The House is called to order. The roll is called, and 
a quorum is present. 

Mr. Olney, of Cranston, addressed a note to the 
speaker, asking to be excused from attending in his seat 
to-day, in consequence of severe sickness in his family. 

Voted to excuse Mr. Olney. 

Mr. Wales, of Providence, offered the following res- 
olution, to wit : ■ — 

Resolved, by this General Assembly, (the Senate 
concurring with the House of Representatives therein,) 
That a committee of be appointed to proceed to 

Newport, and to request a conference with a similar 
committee of the General Assembly now convened at 
that place, for the immediate and honorable adjustment 
of the controversy now existing in this state. 

This resolution was read ; and, after debate, was, on 
motion, voted to be laid on the table. 

Mr. Jencks, of Cumberland, offered a bill entitled 
" An act providing for the registration of electors, and 
directing the manner of voting by ballot in town and 
ward meetings." 

Read ; and, on motion, it is voted to take said bill 
up and pass upon it by sections. 

The first section is read, and passed to be enacted. 

The second section is read, and passed to be enacted. 
10 



110 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The third section is read, and passed to be enacted. 

The fourth section is read, amended, and passed to be 
enacted. 

The fifth section is read, amended, and passed to be 
enacted. 

The sixth section is read, and blanks are filled, and 
passed to be enacted. 

The seventh, eighth, and ninth sections are read, and 
passed to be enacted. 

The bill, as engrossed, passed to be enacted, and 
sent up for concurrence. 

Mr. Brown, of Glocester, moved a bill entitled " An 
act to revive the charter of Glocester and Burrillville 
Greene Artillery." 

The above bill was read twice, and passed to be 
enacted, and sent up for concurrence. 

Mr. Pearce presented a bill entitled " An act to re- 
peal an act entitled ' An act in amendment of an act 
entitled An act to prevent routs, riots, and tumultuous 
assemblies, and the evil consequences thereof,' " passed 
by the General Assembly at their April session, 1842. 

Read twice ; and, after debate, the same passed to 
be enacted, and sent up for concurrence. 

Joseph Joslin, the general treasurer elect, came into 
the House, and having signified his acceptance of said 
office, took the oath in the words and form prescribed 
by the constitution, administered in the presence of the 
House. 

Voted, on motion of Mr. Pearce, That Messrs. Simmons, 
Brown of Glocester, Gavitt, Cory, Holley, and Bos- 
worth, be a committee to report a bill fixing the pay of 
members of both Houses at one dollar per day. 

Mr. Pearce presented a bill entitled " An act to re- 
peal certain resolutions passed by the General Assembly 
at their April session, 1842." The resolutions to au- 
thorize the governor to preserve the public property, to 
recall any arms loaned by the General Assembly, to 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. Ill 

authorize the governor to fill vacancies in the offices of 
the militia, and the appointment of a board of counsel- 
lors, were read, and passed to be enacted, and sent up 
for concurrence. 

On motion, the rules of the House were taken up, 
and being read under each head, were debated, amend- 
ed, and passed, as they appear on the files of the 
House. 

Mr. Simmons, of Providence, from the committee on 
the compensation of the members of the General As- 
sembly, reports the following bill, to wit : — 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly as follows^ 
to wit: — 

Section 1. The several members of the Senate and 
House of Representatives shall hereafter receive, as a 
compensation for their services, the sum of one dollar 
for each day in which they shall be in actual attendance 
during any session of the Assembly. 

Sec. 2. The several members of the Senate and 
House of Representatives shall be entitled to receive 
the sum of ten cents per mile, each way, for their travel, 
in attending at each session. 

The above bill is read, debated, and passed to be 
enacted, and sent up for concuiTence. 

Voted, That Messrs. Arnold of Providence county, 
Arnold of Washington county, Pearce of Newport 
county, Bosworth of Bristol county, and Newman of 
Kent county, be a committee to consider to what time 
it is proper for the Assembly to adjourn. 

Adjourned until two o'clock, P. M. 

J. S. Harris, Clerk. 

Afternoon Session. 

The House met at two o'clock, P. M. The speaker 
in the chair. 



112 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Upon a call of the roll, a quorum is present. 

Mr. Gavitt offered the following joint resolution, to 
wit : — 

Resolved, by the House of Representatives, (the 
Senate concurring herein,) That Messrs. Simmons of 
Providence, and Mowry of Smithfield, be a committee 
to demand, receive, and transfer the records, books, and 
papers, appertaining to the office of the secretary of state, 
and transfer the same from Henry Bowen, late secretary 
of state, to his successor, William H. Smith. 

Voted, and sent up for concurrence. 

The committee on the time to which the legislature 
should adjourn, report by Mr. Arnold, and recommend 
that the General Assembly hold an adjourned session 
on the first Monday of July. Report accepted ; and it 
is voted, that when this General Assembly adjourn, (the 
Senate concurring herein,) it will meet again on the 
first Monday in July next. 

Resolutions drawn and sent up. 

Mr. Pearce offered the following resolutions, to wit: — 

Resolved, That the governor be further requested to 
call on all persons who are, or may become, indebted to 
the state, to make payment to the duly appointed offi- 
cers and agents, under the provisions of said constitu- 
tion ; and to make known to all persons that no 
payment to any other officers or agents than those 
aforesaid will Hbe considered as a discharge of their 
obligations. 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to call on 
all persons who are in possession, or have charge of 
any of the public property, to deliver the possession or 
charge of said property to the authorities and officers 
acting under the constitution and laws'of the state. 

Read and passed, and sent up for concurrence. 

The act repealing the amendment to the riot act, 
passed this morning, came down concurred in by the 
Senate, and approved by ihe governor. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 113 

The act providing for the registration, &c., of voters, 
came down with an amendment, changing the time, 
&c., of registry. 

Voted to concur with the Senate in the amendment. 

On motion, it is voted that the two Houses join in 
committee to proceed upon the election of officers. 

Mr. Brown, of Glocester, moved the following bill, 
to wit: — 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly as follows: — 

Section 1. If any person or persons, or body corpo- 
rate, from whom any sum or sums of money may be- 
come due and payable to the general treasurer of this 
state, elected under the provisions of the constitution 
of this state, as adopted by the people thereof, accord- 
ing to the provisions of the act to which this is in 
addition, or of other acts in addition or amendment 
to the same, should refuse or neglect to pay said sum or 
sums of money as by law directed, he or they so refus- 
ing and neglecting shall be liable to pay interest for 
the retainer of such sum or sums of money, at and 
after the rate of one per cent, of the amount due for 
each month's neglect and refusal as aforesaid. 

Sec. 2. If any person or persons, or body corporate, 
holding in their possession any other money or property 
whatsoever belonging to the state, shall refuse to pay 
over and deliver the same to any officer or agent of the 
state duly authorized to receive the same, after being 
duly required hereto, he or they so refusing shall be 
liable to be sued therefor in any court of competent 
jurisdiction, in the name of the general treasurer afore- 
said ; and on rendition of judgment in any such case 
against the defendant or clefendants, the court before 
whom such judgment may be rendered shall assess dam- 
ages thereon at double the amount of the money or 
value of the property found due, with costs. 

Read, and passed to be enacted, and sent up for con- 
currence. 

10* 



114 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The act reviving tlie charter of the Greene Artillery, 
came down concurred, and approved by the governor. 

The act repealing the act establishing volunteer 
police companies in Providence, came down concurred, 
and approved by the governor. 

The act repealing certain resolutions passed in April 
last, investing the governor with great power, and ap- 
pointing his council, came down concurred, and ap- 
proved by the governor. 

The two Houses having joined, on motion, his honor 
the lieutenant governor was called to preside. 

The elections of all civil officers were postponed until 
the next session of the General Assembly. 

Several military officers were appointed, the record of 
which Vt'ill appear on the secretary's minutes. The two 
Houses separated. 

The act submitted to enable the governor to appoint 
and commission officers, and to organize the militia, 
was taken ujd, debated, and committed to Mr. Brown of 
Glocester. 

Mr. Brown made report, that the act referred to him, 
giving the governor certain power in appointing and 
orcfanizins^ the militia, is unconstitutional, and asks to 

be discharsred from, the further consideration of the 

o 

same. 

Voted to discharge the committee, and the act is laid 
on the table. 

Mr. Brown offered the following resolution, to wit : — 

Resolved, That the thanks of this House are due to 
their constituents, civil and military, for the zeal they 
have displayed, and efficient aid rendered, in assisting 
this General Assembly in organizing the government 
under the constitution. Voted unanimously. 

Mi\ Simmons offered a resolution authorizing the gov- 
ernor to send commissioners to Washington, to make 
known to the president our position^ &c» Voted that 
the same be laid upon the table. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 115 

Mr. Simmons moved the following resolution, viz. r — 

Resolved, by the House of Representatives, (the Sen- 
ate concurring herein,) That Messrs. Pearce and Chace 
be a committee to demand, receive, and transfer all the 
moneys, bonds, securities, records, books, and papers, 
and every other article appertaining to the office of the 
general treasurer of this state, from Stephen Cahoone, 
late treasurer, to Joseph Joslin, his successor. 

Voted, and sent up for concurrence. 

Mr. Wales moved the following act, to wit : — 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly as follows : — 
Section 1. The charter of the United Independent 
Company of Volunteers, of the city of Providence, is 
so amended as that said company is authorized to 
receive and enrol additional members to the number of 
two hundred, exclusive of commissioned officers. 

Voted to be enacted, and sent to the Senate for con- 
currence. 

Voted that the House take a recess for one hour, it 
being now 5 o'clock, P. M. 

At 6 o'clock, P. M., the House reassembled. 

The speaker and a quorum present. 

The act authorizing the volunteer company to increase 
the number of their men, came down concurred, and 
approved by the governor. 

The resolutions transferring the effects of the offices 
of the late secretary of state and general treasurer, came 
down concurred, and approved by the governor. 

The act to collect the revenue, and secure the pay- 
ment to, and the possession of the state's property, and 
the consequences and liability in paying and delivering 
the same to officers under the constitution, came dow^n 
concurred, and approved by the governor. 

The act relating to the pay and travel of the mem- 
bers of the General Assembly, came down concurred, 
and approved by the governor. • 



116 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The act relating to the duties of those indebted to 
the state, (marked No. 1,) came down concurred, and 
approved by the governor. 

The resohition to adjourn until the first Monday in 
July next, came down concurred. 

Mr Taber, of Smithfield, moved the following bill : — 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly as follows : — 

Section 1. In all elections of the captains and subal- 
terns of militia companies, at their annual elections, the 
elections shall be made by the members of said compa- 
nies delivering their votes, with the name of the person 
voted for thereon, to the officer of the company in com- 
mand on the day of election ; and all companies who 
may have neglected to choose their officers at their last 
annual election, may proceed to choose the same as 
aforesaid, on any day before the next annual election. 

Sec. k. The chartered military companies who 
have not made their returns, may make the same at any 
time previous to the next adjourned session of this 
Assembly. 

Sec. 3. The governor is hereby authorized to com- 
mission the officers chosen by volunteer companies in 
this state for a term not exceeding one year from this 
time. 

Voted to be enacted, and sent up for concurrence. 

Mr. Simmons, of Providence, moved the following 
resolution, viz. : — 

Resolved, by the House of Representatives, (the Sen- 
ate concurring therein,) That the governor be author- 
ized to appoint suitable persons as commissioners in 
behalf of this state, to proceed to Washington, to make 
known to the president of the United States, that the 
people of this state have formed a written constitution, 
and elected officers, and peaceably organized a govern- 
ment under the same, and that said government is now 
in full operation. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 117 

Voted, and sent up for concurrence. 
Mr. Nathaniel C. Smith, a member from Barrington, 
sent to the speaker his resignation. 

Voted, That the same be accepted, and that the 
speaker issue his warrant to the electors of said town, 
requiring them to elect another representative in his 
place. 

George Niles, a member from Eichmond, resigned 
his seat. 

Voted,^ That the same be accepted, and that the 
speaker issue his warrant to the electors of said town, 
requiring them to elect another representative in his 
place. 

Voted, That the clerks be directed to make out cer- 
tificates of attendance for the pay of each member, 
according to the act of this session ; and to deliver the 
same to them respectively. 

On motion of Mr. Pearce, Mr. Simmons was appointed 
a committee to wait upon the governor, and inform him 
that this House is ready to adjourn if he has no further 
communications to make to them. 

Mr. Simmons, the committee appointed to wait upon 
the governor, made report that he had performed that 
duty, and that the governor had nothing further to 
communicate. 

The act relating to the election of military officers, to 
commissioning the same, and to charter companies, 
came down concurred, and approved by the governor. 

The resolution appointing commissioners to proceed 
to Washington, came down concurred, and approved by 
the governor. 

Voted, That John S. Harris be allowed, and paid out 
of the treasury, for his services as clerk this session, six 
dollars. 

Voted, That Levi Salisbury be allowed, and paid out 
of the treasury, for his services as clerk this session, six 
dollars. 



118 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Voted, That Burrington Anthony be allowed, and 
paid out of the treasury, for attendance as sheriff, and 
other expenses this session, the sum of five dollars and 
fifty cents. 

Voted, That Seth Howard be allowed, and paid out 
of the treasury, for attendance of himself and other offi- 
cers at this session, the sum of ten dollars. 

On motion of Mr. Newman, of Warwick, it is unani- 
mously Voted, That the thanks of this House be pre- 
sented to the Speaker for the able, dignified, and 
impartial manner in which he has presided over its 
deliberations. 

Voted and resolved, That all officers not reelected, 
and in whose places others have not been appointed, 
be, and they are hereby, continued in their respective 
offices until the adjourned session of this General As- 
sembly, to be holden at Providence on the first Monday 
in July, 1842, with as full power and authority as they 
have at any time had. 

Voted and resolved. That all business lying before 
this Assembly unfinished, be referred to the adjourned 
session to be holden on the first Monday in July, 1842 ; 
that the secretary cause the acts, orders, and resolutions 
passed at this session, to be published, with a suitable 
index, and distributed according to law ; and that this 
Assembly be, and the same is hereby, adjourned to the 
first Monday in July, 1842, then to convene in the city 
of Providence. 

Voted to be enacted, and sent up for concurrence. 

The vote of adjournment came down concurred ; and 
thereupon, the speaker informed the House that they 
were adjourned accordingly. 

Attest: J. S. Hariiis, Clerk. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 119 



CHAPTEE yil. 

THE RIGHT OF THE CHARTER GOVERNMENT TO HOLD 
OUT AGAINST THE PEOPLE CONSIDERED. CAUSES OF 
COMPLAINT SET. FORTH, ETC. CONFIDENTIAL LETTER 
FROM PRESIDENT TYLER. 

It has already been shown that on the ocl of May^ 
1842, there were two organized political governments 
in Rhode Island, each claiming the exclusive right to 
the exercise of legislative functions ; they could not 
both be right. One claimed under an exploded British 
charter, which the people had never adopted, and which 
no free, intelligent people ever would adopt ; the gov- 
ernment under which had been held by sufferance after 
the royal parchment had become a dead letter. The 
other claimed to derive its authority directly from the 
people. A very large majority of the whole people 
had, in the exercise of their inalienable sovereignty, 
conferred upon the latter legislative powers, and by the 
same act had forever abrogated and withdrawn all 
authority from the former. Under the charter the 
whole government of Khode Island expired and was 
renewed every year, and the duties and powers of all 
officers, from the highest to the lowest, ceased and 
terminated at the end of every year, if they were not 



120 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

reelected, and the government under the people's con- 
stitution was intended to commence at the time the old 
government expired by its own limitation. The charter 
legislature was nothing more than a tenant at will. 
This being the case, it follows of course that the gov- 
ernment which had been set up by the people them- 
selves had an undoubted right to make use of all 
necessary means to sustain itself. The people had 
committed their political interests to this new legisla- 
ture, and it had become the duty of that legislature to 
protect and defend them. This each member of that 
legislature had sworn to do ; therefore if any govern- 
ment ever had a right to defend and sustain itself by 
physical power, the people's legislature had that right, 
and must stand perfectly justified in the use of any 
measures necessary for that purpose. The question is 
simply this. Was the people's government set up upon 
the true principles of American democracy ? The ad- 
vocates for the charter government have told us that 
the people had no right to set up a government or to 
take any measures for that purpose without permission 
from the General Assembly. We have seen that four- 
teen thousand out of twenty thousand gave their votes 
for the constitution under which the people's govern- 
ment was organized ; but we are told that that is of no 
consequence so long as the legislature did not give the 
people a license to proceed in the manner they did, and 
that therefore the old government must be considered 
as the rightful government until the General Assembly 
should authorize the people to set up a different form 
of government. Now if a government which had been 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 121 

set up by three fourths of the people was illegal and 
void because the legislature refused to sanction it, then 
if every man in the state, except the eighty -four who 
composed the General Assembly of the State of Rhode 
Island in 1841, had voted for the people's constitution 
and agreed to support it, it would still have been just as 
illegal, and the eighty-four men who composed that 
legislature might just as rightfully have declared the 
whole proceedings of the people void, and still claimed 
their right to rule the state, and have called upon the 
president of the United States, or any foreign power, to 
sustain them ; and if, by means of menaces from abroad, 
and concessions and promises at home, that body found 
themselves able to subdue the people, they would main- 
tain their power by the same right that the charter gov- 
ernment was maintained in 1842. If three fourths of 
the people could ^ not rightfully set up a government 
without the consent of the legislature, then all the peo- 
ple could not. It was upon that ground alone that the 
charter government held on to power in 1842 ; and we 
ask if there is a single unprejudiced individual living 
under the democratic institutions of the United States, 
who has any claim to common sense, who agrees to that 
doctrine ? But we are told that the people of Rhode 
Island had no reason to complain of the government 
under the charter. Has it not been shown that more 
than half of the male citizens of that state over twenty- 
one years of age were by law excluded from all partici- 
pation in the affairs of the government, whilst at the 
same time they were required by law to do duty in mil- 
itary and fire companies, and also to pay their full pro- 

11 



12S THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

portion of all public taxes ? Has it not been shown 
also that the laws of that state gave non-freeholders no 
remedy against any wrongs that they might sustain un- 
less they obtained the assistance of freeholders ? Has 
it not been shown that they were denied the right of 
trial by a jury of their peers ? 

If they were satisfied to be thus disparaged and out- 
lawed, why did they petition the legislature, time after 
time, during almost half a century ? What was meant 
by the petition presented to the General Assembly in 
1829, signed by two thousand citizens ? What meant 
the suffrage organizations throughout the state in 1838 
and 1839 ? What brought together the immense mass 
meetings in the summer of 1841 ? For what purpose 
did ten or twelve thousand men meet in convention in 
the city of Providence ? What did these people mean 
by their loud complaints against the oppressive acts of 
the charter government, and what did their strong reso- 
lutions declare ? 

Is it not true that " all experience hath shown that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are 
sufFerable, than to right themselves by abolishing the 
forms to which they are accustomed " ? And might 
not the disfranchised citizens of Khode Island have said, 
in the language of their revolutionary fathers, " In 
every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for 
redress in the most humble terms ; our repeated peti- 
tions have been answered only by repeated injury." 

Although the president was over-persuaded and mis- 
advised, yet the following " private and confidential " 
letter to Governor King, dated May 9, 1842, shows 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 123 

that he was desirous that the controversy shouki be 
amicably settled by the parties themselves. 

May 9, 1842. 

Sir : Messrs. Randolph and Potter will hand you an 
official letter ; but I think it important that you should 
be informed of my views and opinions as to the best 
mode of settling all difficulties. I deprecate the use of 
force, except in the last resort ; and I am persuaded 
that measures of conciliation will at once operate to 
produce quiet. / am well advised, if the General As- 
sembly would authorize you to announce a general am- 
nesty and pardon for the past, without making any 
exception, upon the condition of a return to allegiance, 
and follow it up by a call for a new convention upon 
somewhat liberal principles, that all difficulty would at 
once cease. And why should not this be done ? A 
government never loses any thing by mildness and for- 
bearance to its own citizens ; more especially when the 
consequences of an opposite course may be the shedding 
of blood. In your case, the one half of your people 
are involved in the consequences of recent proceedings. 
Why urge matters to an extremity ? If you succeed by 
the bayonet, you succeed against your own fellow-citi- 
zens, and by the shedding of kindred blood ; whereas, 
by taking the opposite course, you will have shown a 
paternal care for the lives of your people. My own 
opinion is, that the adoption of the above measures will 
give you peace, and insure you harmony. A resort to 
force, on the contrary, will engender, for years to come, 
feelings of animosity. 

I have said that I speak advisedly. Try the exper- 
iment ; and if it fail, then your justification in using 
force becomes complete. 

Excuse the freedom I take, and be assured of my 
respect. John Tyler. 

Governor King, of Rhode Island. 



124 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

But the charter authorities, elated with the idea of 
putting down the suffrage party by force of arms, were 
not inchned to make any concessions or adopt any con- 
ciliatory measures, and the president's advice was dis- 
regarded. 



THOMAS WILSON DOHiU 125 



CHAPTER VIII, 

MR. dorr's visit TO WASHINGTON AND NEW YORK. 
HIS RETURN TO PROVIDENCE. ATTACK UPON THE 
ARSENAL. 

Immediately after the adjournment of the constitu- 
tional legislature, Mr. Dorr proceeded to Washington, 
and laid his case before the chief magistrate and heads 
of the departments. But he soon found, to his mortifi- 
cation, that the administration had become strongly pre- 
judiced against him in consequence of misrepresenta- 
tions which had been made by the envoys of the charter 
government. 

Southern men had become imbittered against him 
and his cause by being told that it was wholly an anti- 
slavery movement. This was false ; not a particle of 
abolitionism was mingled in the controversy. At home 
the vilest slanders and most egregious falsehoods were 
conjured up and put in circulatiqn by the obsequious 
minions of power ; the desk and the forum assisted to 
give them currency, and they were echoed and reechoed 
from high places. At one time it was rumored that 
Mr. Dorr was coming with murderous legions from 
abroad, and at another that he and his men intended to 
rob all the banks in the state, to pillage and burn the 
city of Providence, and ravish its fair inhabitants. 
II* 



1^6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Such reports were not only entirely without foundationj 
but so extremely absurd and improbable^ that no honest 
man ought to have given them currency. Again, to 
pacify the people, they Avere told that the government 
had consented to accede to their demands, and would, 
as soon as possible, give them a legal constitution, with 
free suffrage, and about every thing else they asked for. 
On his return from Washington, Mr. Dorr was re- 
ceived in the city of New York with strong demonstra- 
tions of respect and confidence, and was assured that, if 
the president should oppose him with the national 
soldiery, that city would furnish troops enough to 
withstand all that the general government might send. 
Keturning home, Mr. Dorr arrived at Stonington on 
Sunday morning, the 15th of May. As soon as it was 
known that he was at Stonington, a large party of citi- 
zens, with about thirty men under arms, proceeded to 
that place to greet him and renew their assurances of 
fidelity. On his arrival in Providence, he was met by 
a large escort of military and private citizens ; a splen- 
did barouche drawn by four fine white horses had been 
prepared for his reception, and as the procession moved 
through the principal streets of the city, shouts of wel- 
come were heard on all sides. The pageant appeared 
more like the triumphant entry of a victor than that 
of a returning exile. The multitude thronged about 
his person to greet and encourage him, and renew again 
and again their promises of fidelity. But alas ! many 
of these promises were hollow and fiilse, and made by 
irresolute, fickle-minded men, who did not know them- 
selves ; and Mr. Dorr was destined soon to witness 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 127 

scenes of an opposite character. During his absence, a 
large number of arrests were made under what was 
denominated the Algerine laws. Alarmed and disheart- 
ened, nearly all the members of his legislatures who had 
not been arrested, soon resigned. 

These resignations fell upon the ears of Mr. Dorr 
like the rumblings of an earthquake. No language 
can describe the emotions of his heart, when, in that 
critical moment, he saw the pillars upon which he had 
rested for support shaken and falling thick around hinL 
It required the firmness of a Cato to withstand the 
shock. But relying on the justice of his cause and the 
rectitude of his own intentions, and still confiding too 
much, far too much^ in the integrity and fidelity of the 
people, he never faltered for a moment ; whatever his 
reason and his conscience told him was right he would 
do to the utmost of his power, and whatever was wrong 
he would not do. Call this obstinacy, or wilfulness, or 
by whatever name you please, it is nevertheless the 
most prominent trait in the character of every truly 
great man. It required no ordinary heroism to sustain 
the mind under reverses like' these. He that could 
remain firm and unmoved, self-poised and self-sustained, 
in a crisis like this, must possess a transcendent moral 
magnanimity. 

' During Mr. Dorr's absence, the charter authorities 
were busily occupied in making preparations to resist, 
by force of arms, the constitutional government. Mili- 
tary companies were reorganized, filled up, and drilled, 
and required to be in readiness to obey any orders 
which might be given them. It had become apparent 



to every one that the existing political controTersJ 
would never be settled vrithout a resort to arms. When 
Mr. Dorr became advised of the notes of preparation in 
progress against him^ he saw that a crisis had arrived 
when decisive measures must be taken. The state 
arsenal, in the vicinity of the city, was an object of indis- 
pensable importance ; this was a strong stone buildings 
containing, at that time, six or eight pieces of ordnance^, 
with a great part of the muskets and ammunition be- 
longing to the state. An additional guard had recently 
been placed within it, of which Mr. Dorr had not been 
advised ; but he saw at once that he must gain posses- 
sion of that, or abandon his position immediately, Thi& 
was a most trying moment. A large number of those 
men upon whose courage and counsel he had depended 
had left him and retired. The whole responsibility of 
a cause which fourteen thousand men had instituted, was 
now thrown upon the shoulders of a single individual. 
He must give up the cause, and retire in disgrace, or 
make an attempt to take possession of the arsenal. The 
hearty greetings and imposing demonstrations with 
which he had been met on his return to the city seemed 
to give him assurance that the people were determined 
to sustain him. Who could have witnessed the long 
procession of men, both armed and unarmed, that escort- 
ed him through the city the day before, and heard their 
cheerful greetings and repeated assurances of fidelity, 
and not have believed that any assistance which he 
might require would be forthcoming at the first call ? 
He could not and he would not cease to confide in the 
integrity of his friends. On the morning of the 17th 



THOMAS WILSON DOMi, 129 

of Ma}% Mr. Dorr issued his orders to the niiHtary of 
the several towns to repair forthwith to head quarters 
and wait further orders. That call met with but a very- 
imperfect response^ and many who did obey it departed 
before evening. At one of the clock on Wednesday 
morning. May 18th, the signal for an attack upon the 
arsenal was given by the firing of an alarm gun. After 
nearly an hour's delay, Mr. Dorr found that only about 
two hundred and fifty men waited his command. At the 
head of that little band, armed with muskets and two 
pieces of artillery, he marched on foot, stationed his 
forces in fi'ont of the arsenal, and summoned its com- 
mander to surrender. The summons was returned with 
an indignant refusal. The night was so extremely dark 
that it was difficult for friends and foes to distinguish 
each other, and it was soon found that Mr. Dorr's two 
pieces of artillery had been rendered inefficient by un- 
seen hands, and he and his small force returned to head 
quarters without firing a single gun. When morning 
came, and it was satisfactorily ascertained that Mr. 
Dorr's forces had dispersed, several companies of mili- 
tia, armed with muskets and field pieces, marched boldly 
up to his head quarters : but before their arrival Mr. 
Dorr left in company with a friend, and fortunately 
escaped the grasp of his enemies. Thus ended a blood- 
less tragedy, which had caused the city of Providence 
dire forebodings. This transaction has been the sub- 
ject of animadversion and ridicule, and Mr. Dorr's con- 
duct looked upon as the feat of a maniac. But it 
should be recollected that it is much easier to find fault 
than to command a burning steamer. Mr. Dorr, by the 



ISO THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

resignation and desertion of his men, had been unex- 
pectedly forced into the perilous position which he 
occupied ; he made no pretensions to military knowl- 
edge or skill, but a tremendous responsibility was 
thrown upon him, and he was not the man td shrink 
from it ; and if he did not display the wisdom and acu- 
men of a veteran officer no one need be surprised. It 
is easy now to see that the attack upon the arsenal was 
injudicious ; but this point is more easily decided now 
than it could have been at that moment. Mr. Dorr 
was not aware of the defection which was rapidly tak- 
ing place in the suffrage ranks ; he had an overweening 
confidence in the integrity and fidelity of mankind ; he 
had not yet learned by his own sad experience that 
^^ all men are liars." He was not aware of the power 
of the arsenal to resist attacks. He did not stop to 
consider the force which the charter government could 
almost instantly bring against him. But he vainly 
imagined that a large portion of all the military of the 
state would rally around his standard at the first call. 
Yet when the signal was given and the demand made, 
like the " spirits of the vasty deep," they were called, 
but did not come. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 131 



CHAPTEK IX. 

MARTIAL LAW. GOV. KINg's PROCLAMATION. GOV. 

dorr's return and proclamations. outrages 
committed under the pretext of martial law. 

During the absence of Mr. Dorr, after the 18th of 
May, and while he was supposed to be residing under 
the protection of his friend Chauncy F. Cleveland, then 
governor of the State of Connecticut, Gov. King issued 
the folio wing, proclamation : — 

By His Excellency Samuel Ward King, Governor, 
Captain General, and Commander-in-Chief of the 
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 
Whereas Thomas Wilson Dorr, of Providence, in the 
county of Providence, charged with treason against the 
said State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 
is a fugitive from justice, and supposed to be now within 
the limits of our sister State of Connecticut ; and from 
credible information, is still pursuing his nefarious en- 
terprise, against the peace and dignity of said State of 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; and where- 
as I made a requisition, on the 25th day of May last, 
addressed to his excellency Chauncy F. Cleveland, 
governor of said State of Connecticut, for the appre- 
hension and delivery of the said Thomas Wilson Dorr, 
according to the constitution and laws of the United 
States in such case made and pj;ovided ; which requi- 



133 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

sition his excellency Chauncy F. Cleveland, governor 
of said state, has hitherto declined to comply with ; — = 
I do, therefore, pursuant to authority in me vested, 
and by advice of the Council, hereby offer a reward of 
one thousand dollars for the delivery of the said Thomas 
Wilson Dorr to the proper civil authority of this state, 
within one year from the date hereof, that he may be 
dealt with as to law and justice shall appertain. 

Given under my hand and the seal of said state at 
the city of Providence, this eighth day of June, 
[l. s.] in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- 
dred and forty-two, and of the Independence of 
the United States of America the sixty-sixth. 
Samuel Ward King. 
By his Excellency's command : 

Henry Bowen, Sec'y of State. 

But this proclamation had no effect, and Mr. Dorr 
fearlessly returned to the state on the 25th of June, 
and issued the following proclamation : — 

STATE OF KHODE ISLAND AND PEOVIDENCE PLAN- 
TATIONS. 

A Proclamation, by the Governor of the same. 

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the con- 
stitution, I hereby convene the General Assembly which 
was adjourned to meet at Providence on Monday, the 
4th of July next, at the town of Glocester, on the same 
day, for the transaction of sjich business as may come 
before them. 

And I hereby request the towns and districts, in 
which vacancies may have occurred by the resignation 
of representatives or senators, to proceed forthwith to 
supply the same by new elections, according to the pro- 
visions of the constitution. 



THOMAS WILSON DORll. 133 

Given under my hand and seal of state, at Glocester, 
the 25th day of June, A. D. 1843. 

Thomas W. Dorr. 

On the same day, June 25, 1842, the charter Gen- 
eral Assembly, then in session at Newport, passed 
the following act declaring the state under martial 
law : — 

An Act establishing Martial Law in this State. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly, as follows : — 
Section 1. The State of Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations is hereby placed under martial law ; 
and the same is declared to be in full force until other- 
wise ordered by the General Assembly, or suspended 
by proclamation of his excellency the governor of the 
state. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, 
r T and affixed the seal of said state, at Provi- 

' I L S I • 

'- * ■-' dence, the day and year above written. 

Samuel Ward King. 
By his Excellency's command : 

Henry Bowen, Sec^y of State. 

And about the same time Mr. Dorr issued the fol- 
lowing proclamation : — 

General Orders. 

Head Quarters, Glocester, E.. I., ) 
June 25, 1842. 5 

I hereby direct the military of this state who are in 
favor of the People's Constitution, to repair forthwith 
to head quarters, there to await further orders ; and I 
request all volunteers and volunteer companies so dis- 
posed to do the same. 

It has become the duty of all citizens who believe 
that the people are sovereign, and have a right to make 
12 



134 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

and alter their forms of government, now to sustain, by 
all necessary means, tlie constitution adopted and estab- 
lished by the people of this state, and the government 
elected under the same. 

The only alternative is an abject submission to a des- 
potism, in its various practical effects, without a parallel 
in the history of the American states. I call upon the 
people of Rhode Island to assert their rights, and to 
vindicate the freedom which they are qualified to enjoy 
in common with the other citizens of the American 
republics. 

I cannot doubt that they will cheerfully and promptly 
respond to this appeal to their patriotism and to their 
sense of justice ; and that they will show themselves in 
this exigency to be the worthy descendants of those 
ancestors who aided in achieving our National Inde- 
pendence. Thomas W. Dorr, 

Governor and Commander-in-Chief. 

By order of the Commander-in-Chief. 
Wm. H. Potter, Adjutant General. 

Before this time, troops, with an additional supply of 
arms and ammunition, had been sent forward by Presi- 
dent Tyler, and were stationed in the forts on Rhode 
Island, ready to obey the requisition of the charter gov- 
ernment. When martial law was announced, a wild 
consternation spread over the whole state ; business be- 
came in a measure suspended ; a thrill of horror seemed 
to touch all hearts, and men looked aghast upon each 
other. This act was passed on Saturday, and early 
on Sunday morning, June 26, a band of armed and 
unarmed men of the " law and order " party entered 
the office of the Daily Express, in the city of Provi- 
dence searched the office throughout, and commanded 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 135 

the publishers to evacuate the building immediately. 
A fearful mob collected in the street, and threatened to 
destroy the building. Under these circumstances the 
publishers were compelled to give notice that their 
paper would be discontinued. This was the only office 
which had up to that time continued to advocate the 
people's cause. As soon as martial law was made 
known, every law and order man and every heartless 
ruffian appeared to suppose himself licensed to commit 
all such depredations as he might choose, and armed 
bands soon sallied forth in various directions, and com- 
menced their outrages. The following depositions will 
give the reader a few samples of their proceedings. 

Deposition of Leonard Wakefield. 

I, Leonard Wakefield, of Cumberland, in the State 
of Rhode Island, forty years of age, depose and say : 
That I am, and have been for about fourteen years, a 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. I have 
resided in Rhode Island, and been a local preacher there 
for about fourteen years. On the loth of June, 1842, 
I was at home in my office ; I acted at that time as 
assistant to the postmaster at Cumberland. The state 
troops were returning from Woonsocket to Providence 
— about three hundred. Two of the soldiers came into 
the office where I was then engaged, and inquired if I 
had any fire-arms, and demanded the same. I deliv- 
ered to them a small birding gun, which I had had for 
many years, and they went away with it. I then went 
into my house to dinner ; my wife was tending a sick 
infant child, which was not expected to live, and which 
died in a few weeks after. As I sat eating my dinner, 
three soldiers came into the room, and two of them were 
stationed over me as a guard ; they were armed with 



136 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

muskets ; the other searched every part of the house, 
from the garret to the cellar, not excepting the lodging 
room. They found nothing, and I was then ordered to 
go with 'them ; was not told where, nor for what. Two 
of the soldiers took me by the arms, one on each side, 
and marched me across the street to the tavern. I was 
carried into the hall of the tavern, and from thence, 
without any examination or inquiry, put into a wagon 
with other prisoners ; there were twenty-one prisoners 
in wagons. We were then conveyed to Providence, a 
distance of twelve miles. The wagons containing the 
prisoners were in front of the body of the troops, who 
followed them. In each wagon there were soldiers 
guarding the prisoners ; two on each side of me with 
muskets ; and, so far as I could see, that was the mode 
each prisoner was guarded ; none of them were bound. 
When we reached the precincts of Providence, we were 
taken from the wagons ; the prisoners ranged two and 
two in file, flanked with soldiers on each side — the 
body of the troops in the rear ; and in this order we 
were marched through the principal streets to one of 
the armories. While we were passing through the 
streets, garlands were thrown from windows to the sol- 
diers ; and there were shouts, and jeering, and insults 
heaped upon the prisoners. I heard, repeatedly, ex- 
clamations, " There goes the minister ! " and in one 
instance, " D — n him, the next time he preaches, it will 
be in the state prison ! " I was generally known in 
Providence as a clergyman. We remained at the 
armory about half an hour. There was no examina- 
tion or inquiry of the prisoners. Some one of the 
officers, as I supposed, asked what should be done with 
the prisoners. General Edward Carrington (who, I 
understood, was one of the governor's council) said, 
" God d — n them, take them oft* to the state prison-*' 
The City Guards then took us in custody, having first 
been ordered to load with ball cartridge ; which they 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 137 

did. We were then placed between two files of sol- 
diers, the remaining troops in the rear, and were marched 
to the state prison. There were twenty-one prison- 
ers, and the company of soldiers was a full one. We 
were put into the cells in the state prison. The cell 
that I was in had sixteen persons in it. Its dimensions 
were about twelve feet by nine. Under the edge of the 
roof there was a loophole, and in the door a hole about 
seven inches by five. A pipe for ventilating led from 
the floor through the outer wall. 

We were put into the cell about sunset, and the six- 
teen continued confined there from Thursday evening 
until Sunday about noon — being let out once a day 
in the yard, under a giiard. We slept on the floor — 
lying in a heap together, as we best could. The suf- 
fering from want of air and space was severe. On 
Sunday the prisoners were separated ; and, after that, 
there were eight in the cell I was put in. I was con- 
fined six days, in all. I was taken before the commis- 
sioners in one of the rooms in the jail building, Ste- 
phen Branch was the chairman, and there were three 
others. No charges whatever were brought against me. 
I was asked my name, age, and residence ; if I had 
been at Chepatchet ; if I had run bullets for Dorr's 
men; to which last question I answered no. I was 
also asked about a discourse I had preached on the 
Sabbath at the Albion village. Mr. Branch made the 
inquiry. I asked him if he wanted a synopsis of the 
discourse, which I was ready to give. He said he only 
wanted what I had said about fighting. I replied that 
I had exhorted the people not to fight at all on either 
side. He asked no further question. Christopher 
Rhodes, who was present, but not one of the commis- 
sioners, said he knew nothing about it ; but his agent 
at the Albion village had told him something about it. 
He did not state what. In answer to the question 
whether I had been at Chepatchet while Dorr was 
12* 



138 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

there, I answered that I had -, that I went at the re- 
quest of a number of my neighbors, to induce the 
Cumberland men, who were there on the suffrage side, 
to come home ; that I had no arms. It was true that I 
had gone to Chepatchet, and had an interview with the 
Cumberland company on the suffrage side ; and, in 
consequence of my representations, as I believe, they 
left the ground and returned home. 

After these inquiries were made by the commission- 
ers, the chairman asked if any person appeared for or 
against me. There was none on either side. I had 
four of my neighbors present, to testify in my favor if 
necessary ; but there being no charges against me, I 
did not call on them. I was then remanded to prison^ 
no reason being given for that course, and remained in 
confinement till the next day in the afternoon, when I 
was again carried before the commissioners, with some 
fifteen others, to whom an address was made, and we 
were discharged. From the time I was arrested, and 
until discharged, nor ever after, did I hear or iearn 
from the authorities the grounds, or charges, or suspi- 
cions, upon which I was arrested. During my impris- 
onment, our fare was two rations a day of stale bread 
and meat, and nothing else but water. I had done 
nothing on the suffrage side, except to express my 
opinions freely and fearlessly, with a temperate zeal. I 
had done nothing to induce, but all I could to prevent 
violence. The sermon alluded to, which I preached at 
Mr. Ehodes^s village, (the Albion,) was decidedly pa- 
cific, and discouraged any attempt to take up arms. 

Leonard Wakefield. 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts^ Bristol, ss. ^ 
Paavtucket, Mai/ 4, 1844. ^ 

Personally appeared the above named Leonard "Wake- 
field, and made oath to and subscribed the forego- 



TTIOMAS WIIi?ON DORR. 139 

Ing, reduced to writing by me in his presence. Be- 
fore me, B. F. Hallett, 

Commissioner y and Justice of the Peace 

through the Commonwealth. 

Deposition of Eliab Whipple, 

I, Eliab Whipple, of Cumberland, in the State of 
Rhode Island, farmer, thirty-six years of age, depose 
and say; On the 6th of July, 184^, I was arrested by 
Samuel Currey and two others, on a warrant of the 
governor and Council, on a charge of treason. I was 
brought to Providence, and put into prison. At the 
end of eight days I was examined by the commission- 
ers and remanded — nothing appearing against me. 
After I had been in prison twenty-four days, I was told 
I was discharged ; but, before I left the prison, I was 
arrested again by the civil authorities, and the next day 
sent to the jail at Newport. At the end of six days I 
was allowed bail in ten thousand dollars, with sureties, 
which I procured. At the next term of the court, the 
grand jury found no bill ; but my recognizance was not 
discharged until the next term, when I was informed 
that the grand jury had found no bill, and the recogni- 
zance was discharged. This information I had from 
the attorney general. I was imprisoned thirty-one days, 
and under recognizance for ten thousand dollars from 
August, 1842, to March, 1843. The only reason for 
my arrest, that I ever knew of, was, that I had voted 
for the people's constitution and for Governor Dorr. I 
had never taken up arms, nor taken any part in the 
conflict. I went to Chepatchet solely from curiosity on 
Friday, the 24th of June, and returned home the next 
day ; was unarmed, and took no part. I continued at 
home about my ordinary business until I was arrested. 

Eliab Whipple. 



140 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Bristol, ss.. ? 
Paavtucket, May 9, 1844. > 

Personally appeared the above named Eliab Whip- 
ple, and made oath to and subscribed the foregoing, re- 
duced to writing by me in his presence. Before me,, 

B. F. Hallett, 
Commissioner y and Justice of the Peace 

through the Commonwealth, 



Deposition of Henry Lord. 

I, Henry Lord, of Providence, in the State of Ehode 

Island, depose and say : That I am nearly sixty years of 

age. I was taken by the charter troops at Acote's Hill 

on the morning of June 29, 1842, and was unarmed. 

I was the only person on the hill ^vhen the advance of 

the troops came up ; I saw no other ; this was about 

eight o'clock, I should judge ; it might have been 

seven. When I saw a horseman coming, I went down 

the hill and met him. It was Colonel George Eivers. 

He asked me, (pointing to the hill,) " Will they fire ? "' 

I answered no ; that there were no troops there. He 

then went up, two soldiers following, and gave three 

cheers when he took possession of the fort. There was 

no resistance made, for there was no one there to make 

it. I went down into the road, and there encountered 

the main body of the troops, and was taken prisoner. 

They then had in charge over a hundred prisoners ; 

none were tied. The troops did not go up the hill, but 

marched to Sprague's hotel with the prisoners. The 

next morning we were mustered, and tied together with 

large bed-cords. The rope was passed in a close hitch 

around each man's arm, passing behind his back, and 

fastening him close up to his neighbor, there being 

eight thus tied together in each platoon ; we had no 

use of the arm above the elbow. In this way we were 

marched on foot to Providence, sixteen miles, threat- 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 141 

eiied and pricked by the bayonet if we lagged from 
fatigue, the ropes severely chafing the arms ; the skin 
was off of mine. In two instances, when the soldiers 
were halted to refresh, we were refused the use of their 
cups to get water from the brook which passed the road, 
and had no water till we reached Greenville, about eight 
miles. It was a very hot day ; I had had no water or 
breakfast that morning, and I received no food until the 
next day in Providence. We were marched thus tied 
through the streets, and, after being exhibited, were put 
into the state prison. Fourteen were put into my cell, 
which was seven feet by ten. After remaining in prison 
twenty-four days, I was released on parole. 

Henry Lord. 



Commonwealth of Massachttsetts, Bristol, ss. ? 
Pawtucket, May 10, 1844. . > 

Personally appeared the above-named Henry Lord, 
and made oath to and subscribed the foregoing, reduced 
to writing by me in his presence. Before me, 

B. F. Hallett, 
Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace 

through the Commonwealth. 

Deposition of Mehitahle Howard. 

I, Mehitable Howard, of Cumberland, in the State 
of Ehode Island, wife of Joseph Howard, of said Cum- 
berland, depose and say : That on the 29th of June,. 
1842, in the morning, between five and six o'clock, 
Alfred Ballon, with seven other men, all armed with 
guns, came to my house and entered it — I forbidding 
them to enter. Myself and grandchildren were the 
only ones in the house ; he broke the door open, and 
drove it off the hinges. As Ballon came in, he seized 
me by the shoulders, and shook me hard, leaving prints 
where he took hold of me. He then pushed me, and 



14^ THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

pushed me against a post about three or four feet fi'om 
where I was standing, which bruised my shoulder very 
much. He came up to me again, seized me, and pushed 
me again towards the window, saying, " Get out of the 
way," in a loud voice. He then gave me a shake, and 
left me, saying, " Where is Liberty ? " meaning my 
son, and " where is the gun ? '* He went up stairs, and 
searched the chambers, turning the beds over in which 
the little children were. He then came down, and 
went into my lodging room, and took a gun and carried 
it off. I was much overcome ; but when he came out, 
I said, " I don't fear you, Mr. Ballou." He then came 
up to me, laid his hands on me, and shook me, and 
said, in a very loud voice, ^' Do you know that you are 
under martial law ? " He then took his bayonet, and 
put the point of the bayonet against the pit of my 
stomach ; he pressed the bayonet against me, and said, 
" I will run you through," looking very angry and 
spiteful. The point of the bayonet went through my 
clothes and fractured the skin, but did not break it, 
but caused the blood to settle the size of a ninepence, 
or larger. I verily believed at the time that he intended 
to run me through. With my hand I knocked the bay- 
onet away, and he stepped back, and stood and looked 
at me with a stern look, and then went out of the 
house. Ballou appeared to be the leader of the band. 
Some of his men were in the house ; I saw two in the 
house with him, armed. He said nothing to me about 
his authority, or why he treated me so. My husband 
was a suffrage man, which is the only reason I know 
for this treatment. Ballou had been a neighbor of ours 
for near forty years ; he was a charter man. I was 
hurt very bad, and unable to do my work for several 
days after, and have never recovered from the effects 
of the shock upon my system. I am sixty-two years 
of age. The gun has not been returned. 

Mehitable Howard. 



THOMAS WILSOX DORR. 143 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Bristol, ss. } 
Pawtucket, May 4, 1844. ^ 

Personally appeared the above-named Mehitable How- 
ard, and made oath to and subscribed the foregoing, 
reduced to writing in her presence by me. Before me, 

B. F. Hallett, 
Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace 

through the Commonwealth. 

Deposition of Otis Holmes. 

I, Otis Holmes, of Providence, in the State of Rhode 
Island, brewer, fifty years of age, depose and say : That 
on Sunday, the 26th of June, 1842, my house in Prov- 
idence was entered by a body of armed men. They 
searched the house, breaking the locks, diough I offered 
to give them the keys. I was lying on the bed, and 
was taken by two men, who seized me by the collar. 
One was named Samuel Thomas ; the other I did not 
know. Charles Harris, at the same time, put a pistol 
to my breast. They found nothing at my house but my 
training musket, which I had had many years ; they 
took it, and have never returned it. They carried me 
to my brewery, and broke in there ; I had previously 
offered them the keys of my premises. In the brewery 
they found two old ducking guns, without locks, and 
one old musket with a shattered lock and no ramrod. 
They took these, and they have never been returned. 
There was also a hunting powder-horn, with about half 
a pound of powder, and a canister of about a pound 
of powder, which belonged to another man who left it 
there. They also broke into my store and counting 
room, and ransacked that, my private papers, and then 
marched me to the office of Henry L. Bowen, Esq., 
justice of the peace. I was carried through the streets 
by two men having hold of my collar, and another in 
front with a pistol. There were about thirty men 



144 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

with muslvets ; I made no resistance. The course lay 
through the principal street of the city. I heard no 
char"'es, and was not examined before Mr. Justice 
Bo wen, but was marched to jail, with a file of soldiers, 
in company with ten others. I was put in a room in 
the jail, and remained there seven days, and then, with- 
out examination, put into one of the cells of the state 
prison, with seven others. It was large enough for us 
to lie down, by lying heads and points. I remained 
there twenty-one days. The suffering was extreme, 
from heat and want of air, with plenty of vermin. The 
health of the prisoners suffered materially. During this 
time I was examined by the commissioners. They 
charged me with keeping arms to aid the suffrage cause. 
No proof was shown. I was remanded. I then got a 
writ of habeas • corpus before Judge Staples, of the 
Supreme Court, and went before him in a room in the 
jail, and, upon a hearing, was discharged. I was then 
immediately committed by the deputy sheriff, on a war- 
rant from Henry L. Bowen, on a charge of treason. I 
then applied for another writ of habeas corpus, which 
Judge Staples ordered to be heard before the whole 
court at Newport. I was there heard, and allowed bail 
in the sum of twelve thousand dollars, with sureties. 
At the next sitting of the court in the county of Prov- 
idence, the grand jury found no bill against me, and I 
was discharged. I was in close prison fifty-nine days. 

Otis Holmes. 

C0MM0N"WEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Bristol, SS. > 

Pawtucket, 3Iay 9, 1844. ) 

Personally appeared the above-named Otis Holmes, 
and made oath to and subscribed the foregoing, reduced 
to writing by me in his presence. Before me, 

B. F. Hallett, 
Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace 

through the Commonwealth, 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 145 

These minions of law and order appeared to believe 
tliat they might deal as they chose with the person and 
property of any individual who had been known to ex- 
press himself in favor of Mr. Dorr or the people's con- 
stitution ; and many appeared to glory in their ruthless 
exploits. Commissioned and non-commissioned officers 
and private soldiers vied with each other in their law- 
less enterprises. All the streets in Providence were 
placed under guards of armed men, and sentinels were 
stationed at every cprner. The faculty of Brown Uni- 
versity dismissed the students, and gave the college 
buildings to the soldiers for barracks. 

The jails of Providence, Newport, and Bristol were 
soon filled with men who had been arrested, and bound, 
and brought to prison by armed freebooters. And even 
the cells of the state prison, designed only for convicts 
for capital offences, were jammed as full of innocent vic- 
tims as ever was the Black Hole of Calcutta. If we 
had not witnessed these scenes we could never have 
believed that men could be so instantly converted into 
demons ; men, who but yesterday enjoyed a neighborly 
intercourse, by the first touch of martial law fell upon 
each other like angry tigers. No one who had ever 
been known to be in favor of suffrage was safe in his 
own house, and no sick room or female retreat was pro- 
tected from violation. Ministers and deacons of the 
" law and order party " advised and assisted in arrest- 
ing members of their own churches ; neighbors turned 
a,^ainst neighbors, and Christians against Christians. 
The Sabbath was profaned and the church desecrated ; 
priests and deacons readily surrendered the temple of 



146 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the Most High to bands of rapacious men, and brutish 
soldiers took up their abode in the holy tabernacle. 
The stilln^s of the sanctuary was broken with the loud 
clanks of armor and the rude trampings of an infidel 
soldiery. The church was converted into an arsenal, 
weapons of death were piled in the chancel, and men 
thirstin^T for blood surrounded the altar. Instead of 
anthems of praise and orisons of peace, the sacred choir 
resounded with beastly orgies, and the house of prayer 
became a den of thieves. Gangs of armed men, as 
ruthless as ever sacked a conquered city, patrolled the 
state ; dismay went before them, and shame followed 
after. 

Men acting under the supposed authority of martial 
law appeared to think that their jurisdiction was as 
boundless as their power. They were not satisfied to 
confine their operations to the narrow precincts of Rhode 
Island, but broke over its boundaries into Massachusetts, 
as the following testimony will show : — 

Deposition of Drajjer Carpenter. 

I, Draper Carpenter, of Pawtucket, in the State of 
Massachusetts, physician, fifty years of age and up- 
wards, depose and say : That on the day on which 
Alexander Kelby was shot, I was in Pawtucket, on the 
Massachusetts side. In the evening there were a num- 
ber of discharges of muskets from the bridge, which is 
the dividing line between Massachusetts and Phode 
Island. ■ The firing appeared to be in volleys. There 
were troops stationed on the bridge, said to be the Kent- 
ish Guards — Phode Island troops. I did not see a 
suffrage man in arms that day or evening ; and I have 
no doubt these troops were the Rhode Island charter 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 147 

troops. Soon after the firing commenced, a woman was 
brought into my office, supposed to be wounded ; but it 
appeared that she had fainted from fright. At that time 
the firing ceased, but soon after commenced again, after 
an interval of about ten or fifteen minutes. Soon after 
the firing began the second time, a man came into my 
office, slightly wounded in the knee from a musket shot ; 
but it was a slight wound, and I did not dress it. I did 
not know the person, and cannot name him ; I was 
standing at the front window of my office, with a view 
to see or hear what was transpiring at the bridge. The 
distance from the bridge was about twenty rods, on 
Main Street, leading from the bridge. While standing 
in this position, a musket ball passed through two panes 
of glass in the two sashes forming the show window of 
the shop, passing near my head, and lodging in the 
shelf, which it penetrated about four inches from the 
edge where it entered. [The witness produces the ball, 
which he says he took from its lodgment, and it appears 
to be a musket ball of the size used for United States 
muskets, and not a rifle ball.] A few minutes after this, 
I was called on to go and see a man, Alexander Kelby, 
who Avas reported to have been shot. I directed them 
to bring him directly to the office, as it was no place for 
an examination there. They went away for that pur- 
pose ; but immediately information came that he was 
dead. I was well acquainted with Alexander Kelby, 
and had generally been his family physician. He had 
a wife and five or six children, and had resided in. 
Pawtucket, on the Massachusetts side, for some nine or 
ten years. He worked in the factory, and was rather 
nn intellectual man, and read a great deal. I often 
loaned him books. He was a man of good character, 
and always peaceable and inoffensive. Other buildings, 
not in the direction of my office, on another street 
loading from the bridge, were fired into, as appears from 
the marks of the balls lodged therein, or having bounded 



148 ' THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

from the brick walls. The bridsre is the most central 

o 

part of the village, and the two streets leading from it 
the most populous on this side. 

Draper Carpenter. 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Bristol, ss. ) 
Pawtucket, MciT/ 2, 1544. \ 

Then the said Draper Carpenter, being duly cau- 
tioned and sworn, made and subscribed the foregoing, 
reduced to writing in his presence, by and before me, 

B. F. Hallett, 
Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace 

through the Commonwealth. 

It appears from the testimony of the widow of Alex- 
ander Kelby that her murdered 'husband was a dresser 
tender, was about forty years of age, and worked in a 
manufactory on the Massachusetts side, and that by his 
death she was left a widow with eight small children, 
and without sufficient means for their support. It 
should be recollected that all the wicked and revolting 
deeds which have been mentioned, and hundreds more 
of the same kind, were committed under the banner of 
" law and order," and under the direction and in open 
view of a elass of men professedly scrupulous about 
nice points of law — a class of men who claimed nearly 
all the piety, talent, and morality in the state, in which 
were found most of the public officers and a large num- 
ber of the clergy ; and yet this same party, with shame- 
less impunity, trampled upon all laws, human and di- 
vine. By turning to the constitution of the United 
States it will be seen that Article I. of the Amend- 
ments was violated and broken by *' abridging the free- 



THOMAS WILSON DORK. 149 

dom of speech and the press ; " Article II. by " infring- 
ing the right of the people to keep and bear arms ; " 
Article III. by '' quartering soldiers in houses without 
the consent of the owners ; '* and Article lY., which de- 
clares that " the right of the people to be secure in their 
persons, houses, papers, and ejBfects, against unreason- 
able searches and seizures, shall not be violated," was 
wholly disregarded. If the president of the United 
States had been as desirous to guard its constitution 
from violation as he was to protect a repudiated charter 
aristocracy, instead of aiding and abetting in these 
nefarious violations, he would have hindered and sup- 
pressed them. 

If the height to which he had been, by accident, 
so suddenly raised had not made him giddy, and if he 
had not forgotten his own official oath, he would not at 
the same time have violated the rights of the people of 
a sovereign state and the constitution of the nation. 

It is impossible to describe the scenes of more than 
savage barbarity which were of almost daily occurrence 
during this reign of terror. When the whole commu- 
nity is given up to the tender mercies of a lawless sol- 
diery, no bounds can be set to their criminalities. 
When the father of a family finds that his house is 
no longer his castle, that his own sacred fireside is no 
protection against the violent encroachments of armed 
men — when he sees his home desecrated and plun- 
dered, his property destroyed, and his books and papers 
scattered in the street — when his wife and daughters 
are dragged from their beds or closets, with scarcely a 
garment upon them, submitted to the taunts and jeers 
13 



150 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of vile men, driven about their own house with the 
muzzle of the musket or pistol, and the merciless bay- 
onet is made to penetrate the bosom of the innocent 
female — when the husband and father is plunged into 
the dungeon or driven into exile, and his home and 
his family left without support or protection — when the 
young mother, as she clasps the tender infant to her 
bosom, trembles lest some brutish soldier should violate 
her sacred retirement — - when the chamber of the sick 
or dying is no security against sacrilegious intrusion, 
and when magistrates and clergymen justify and ap- 
prove of all these things, — a tragedy is enacted which 
no language can describe or pencil paint. It crushes 
the resolutions of the brave and the hopes of the true. 
We stand aghast at the spectacle ; it is the triumph of 
malice, aud carnival of devils. 



THOMAS WILSON DORK, 151 



CHAPTER X. 

PROCLAMATION. DISMISSES HIS 
MEN, AND LEAVES THE STATE. PROCEEDINGS OF 
CHARTER TROOPS. ARRESTS AND IMPRISONMENT OF 
SUFFRAGE MEN. 

Leaving, for the present, this part of the history, we 
return to Mr. Dorr. His proclamation for convening 
the people's legislature at Chepatchet on the ensuing 
4th of July was issued on the 25th of June. He had 
been absent from the state since the 18th instant, and 
had given no orders or advice concerning the fortifica- 
tions at Acote's Hill ; and before he decided that it was 
his duty to give the people another opportunity to 
rally in support of their constitution, he was assured, by 
a deputation sent him, that a large number of people 
had already collected at that place, who were deter- 
mined, notwithstanding all their reverses, and all that 
threatened them at home and abroad, to persist in sup- 
port of their own constitutional government. With 
these renewed assurances of fidelity, Mr. Dorr came 
to the conclusion that it was his duty to aid them in a 
further effort to accomplish that object,. and therefore 
issued the afore-mentioned proclamation. It was evi- 
dent that the people's legislature could not now be con- 



15^ mil LiFE ANl) TfMfiS OF' 

vened in Providence. Cliepatchet was a quiet countvf 
Tillage,, situated sixteen or seventeen miles from Prov- 
idence, where it was thought that Mr. Dorr's legislature 
might convene, and,, unmolested, proceed to pass such 
orders and acts as might he deemed expedient. 'No 
possible harm could arise from such a meeting ; but it 
soon became apparent that no such session could be held 
even there, unless the place was defended by a strong 
military force. It was known that, on the 2Sd of June^, 
whilst Mr. Dorr was absent from the state, and nothing 
was doing any where by the frienda of the constitution, 
except the small collection at Cliepatchet, Governor 
King issued his orders as commander-in-chief to all the 
military of the state to put themselves in readiness for 
immediate service, and on the S4th of June a steamboat 
was ordered from Providence to bring up all the mil- 
itary forces from Newport, Warren, and Bristol. The 
boat returned the same evening, bringing several com- 
panies of artillery and seven or eight pieces of field 
ordnance. This boat was again ordered back the next 
day, and returned v/ith several companies of infantry, 
numbering, in all, three or four hundred men. In the 
mean time orders were given to all the military forces 
of the state to repair forthwith to Providence. The 
state troops were soon brought in from all the neighbor- 
ing towns, and on the next day, which was Sunday, the 
entire Washington brigade, five or six hundred strong^^ 
came in over the Stonington Railroad. 

A company of Carbineers from New York city was 
brought in, each man being armed with one of Colt's 
six-ban-elled rifles. A company of Sea Pencibles, hav- 



THOMAS W1I.S0N DOtUL 153 

ing ill charge a long Paixhan gun, (a thirty- two 
pounder,) arrived from Newport, By Sunday evening, 
June 26, the forces collected at Providence amounted 
to from three to four thousand men, with fifteen or 
twenty pieces of artillery. The city of Providence was 
filled with soldiers and their appliances, and nothing 
was heard or seen on either side but the dread array and 
din of war. Now, what had caused all this terrific dis- 
play of hostile preparations ? Was there any formi- 
dable foe in sight, any abroad or at home, to warrant 
these warlike preparations ? Might it not have arisen 
from a constitutional cowardice in some, or a fear that 
arises from conscious guilt in others, urged on by pow- 
ers behind the throne, compared with which the chief 
magistrate was himself a mere cipher ? or had the 
charter authorities actually become alarmed by the false- 
hoods and bugbears which they had themselves conjured 
tip and put into circulation ? 

"Where was the foe with which this formidable charter 
army was to contend ? Mr. Dorr was at Chepatchet, 
where he had attempted to convene his legislature. 
Some of his abiding friends had gathered around him, 
and a few were provided with arms. The neighboring 
citizens visited the place out of curiosity, and went and 
returned as they chose ; but it has been shown, by good 
testimony, that only about two or three hundred men 
were under arms at that place at any one time. Mr. 
Dorr very soon became satisfied that the people's cause 
had become prostrated and their rights crushed by the 
iron heel of despotism. He saw that further efforts 
•would be useless and improper, although the little band 
13* 



154 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of brave men under arms manifested a desire to dispute 
the ground to the last, and, if necessary, to pour out 
their blood as a libation to freedom ; yet Mr. Dorr be- 
lieved that no such sacrifice was required of them or 
him, and therefore, on Monday, the 27th of June, he 
issued the following order : — 

Glocester, June 27, 1842. 

Believing that a majority of the people who voted 
for the constitution are opposed to its further support by 
military means, I have directed that the military here 
assembled be dismissed. 

I trust that no impediments will be thrown in the 
way of the return of our men to their homes. 

Yours, T. W. Dorr. 

This order was issued about four o'clock in the after- 
noon, and forthwith communicated to the men under 
arms by Gen. DeWolf and Col. Comstock, who com- 
manded the station. Immediately on receiving the 
order, the military dispersed. Let not this little band 
of brave men be disparaged because they were few in 
numbers. Theirs was not the empty daring that goes 
with the multitude and boasts loudest when no enemy 
is near. Their courage arose from an abiding sense of 
right. The spirit of 1776 glowed in their bosoms and 
nerved their arms ; they were true men, whom no bribes 
could purchase, nor threats terrify. Mr. Dorr re- 
mained at his quarters until about seven o'clock that 
afternoon, when he left the place. But no language 
can describe his heart-rending emotions when he found 
himself obliged to abandon a cause in which he had 
labored so long and sacrificed so much — a cause so 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 155 

big with momentous consequences to himself, to his 
state, to the American people, and to the world. On 
that eventful night a lurid halo seemed to suiTound the 
sun as he sunk beneath the horizon. A star in the 
American constellation, once bright and shining, now 
became darkened as with an eclipse : patriots wept, and 
strong men looked dismayed. We will now return to 
the royal charter army at Providence, and take a brief 
notice of their movements. As soon as Mr. Dorr had 
given orders for the dismission of the men under arms 
at Chepatchet, he sent a copy of that order to Prov- 
idence for immediate publication in the New Age ; but 
that communication was intercepted, the seal broken, 
and the paper passed over to the governor and Council. 
They kept it in their possession until the next day, 
when they gave it up to those to whom it belonged. 
But the New Age, in which Mr. Dorr designed the 
order to be published the day before, had been sup- 
pressed, and the proprietors durst not now publish any 
thing without a permit from the governor or his Council. 
At length a written permit was obtained, and the order 
was published in an extra from that office. But the 
governor and his councillors had taken advantage of 
the information which they obtained by the seizure of 
the letter the day before, which contained the order, and 
had hastily and slyly despatched several military squad- 
rons, which were directed to take separate routes and 
proceed to Chepatchet with all possible haste, in order 
to capture as many men as possible before they could 
get home to their families. These "law and order" 
troops had now become very courageous — men who. 



156 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the day before, were frightened at then* own shadows, 
now became bold as lions, and on they rushed towards 
Chepatchet ; but when they arrived there, they found 
nothing but an empty breastwork. Not a man re- 
mained to oppose them : therefore this heroic army 
marched boldly up, and took possession, and imme- 
diately despatched the following bulletin to the com- 
mander-in-chief at Providence. 

Orders, No. 54. 

Head Quarters, &c., ? 
June 28, 18i2. ^ 

The village of Chepatchet and fort of the insurgents 
were stormed at a quarter before eight o'clock this 
morning, and taken , with about one hundred /prisoners, 
by Colonel William "W. Brown. None killed — none 
wounded I 

The one hundred men, more or less, mentioned in 
that bulletin, were none of them found at the fortifica- 
tion, or any where else, under arms, but were such men 
as their scouts and marauding parties had picked up and 
taken prisoners on the route. The village of Chepatchet 
was situated on a public mail route between Providence 
and Norwich in Connecticut ; and Jedediah Sprague, a 
very respectable man, kept a large stage hotel in the 
village. Knowing that Mr. Dorr had been entertained 
there, these rapacious " law and order " troops proceeded 
to take possession of and plunder the premises. The 
following is the deposition of Mr. Sprague : -— 

Deposition of Jedediah Sprague. 

I, Jedediah Sprague, of Glocester, in the county of 
Providence, State of Rhode Island and Providence 



THOMAS WILSON DOUR. 157 

Plantations, aged forty years, do depose and say : That 
I now am, and have, for the space of about four and a 
half years past, been the innholder of the Chcpatchet 
hotel in said town of Glocester ; that I was the keeper 
of said hotel in June, A. D. 1842, at the time of the 
encampment of the suffrage party, or. a portion thereof, 
on Acote's Hill, near said village of Chepatchet. On 
Thursday, June 23, 1842, late in the afternoon, the 
suffrage people aforementioned commenced encamping 
on said hill ; early Saturday morning following, (to wit, 
the 25th of June,) Governor Dorr arrived and took rooms 
in my house. Two or three days previous to said 25th 
of June, persons known to be in the interest of the 
charter party, (so called,) and hostile to the suffrage 
party, were reconnoitring this section of the state, both 
in the day and night time. Tuesday and Wednesday 
evenings, the 21st and 22d of June, 1842, expresses 
arrived from Providence, bringing the intelligence that 
armed companies were forming in Providence for the 
purpose of making an attack on the village of Che- 
patchet ; in consequence of this information, a portion 
of the citizens of said village, together with a few per- 
sons from other towns, formed a patrol to watch and 
protect the place. On Wednesday night aforesaid, 
(which was the first night of the streets being generally 
guarded,) information was received that large numbers 
of persons had passed the turnpike gate, about four 
miles east of this village, on the direct road to Prov- 
idence, who were approaching the village at about twelve 
o'clock at night, which is an unusual time for travellers 
to be on the roads in this part of the country. About 
one o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 23d of June 
aforesaid, Messrs. Shelley, Keep, Harris, and Peckham 
were apprehended, all armed with pistols ; about which 
time, several carriages, apparently approaching from to- 
wards Providence, hastily turned oft' from the main or 
turnpike road, some eighty or one hundred rods below. 
14 



158 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The persons taken by the patrol aforesaid were supposed 
to be an advanced guard of the company, which, from 
the intelHgence received, it was expected would attack 
the village ; and it was supposed that the discharge of 
cannon, which took place in the village immediately 
after the arrest of said persons, deterred others from 
entering the village. It being believed that the village 
of Chepatchet would not be strong enough to hold out 
against any considerable number of armed men or 
strong force, the persons apprehended were marched, 
with said company of patrol, to Woonsocket, where 
said Shelley, Keep, Harris, and Peckham were dis- 
charged. On Thursday, the 2od aforesaid, said patrol 
returned, accompanied by a part of two military com- 
panies from Woonsocket, and commenced the encamp- 
ment on Acote's Hill, as before stated. Said Acote's 
Hill was in possession of the suffrage party, as aforesaid, 
until the afternoon of Monday, June 27th. During the 
occupancy of said hill and the village, the suffrage peo- 
ple were quiet, orderly, and peaceable, and the personal 
rights of the citizens were respected. On Saturday 
morning, the 25th of June, the bar of my house, 
where liquors were sold, was by me, at the request of 
Governor Dorr, closed, and remained so until Tuesday 
morning, the 28th. On the afternoon of Monday, the 
27th, the military on Acote's Hill disbanded, and nearly 
all of them quietly retired from the village. An ex- 
press started from my house on Monday afternoon, bear- 
ing a communication from Governor Dorr to Walter S. 
Barges, Esq., of Providence, acquainting said Purges 
with the fact that the forces on Acote's Hill were to be 
disbanded, and requesting said communication to be 
published in the Express, the organ of the suffrage 
party, published in Providence. 

About seven o'clock, (according to the best of my rec- 
ollection,) on the morning of Tuesday, June 28, the 
advance guard of Colonel Brown's regiment arrived at my 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 159 

house in carnages, under the command, as I understood 
at the time, of Lieutenant John T. Pitman, (clerk of the 
United States Court for the district of Rhode Island,) 
who was well known to me at that time, and for several 
years previous. There were in my house, at the time 
said advance guard arrived, only eight male persons, 
besides my own family and domestics, three of whom 
were gentlemen from Boston, who had arrived that 
morning ; one gentleman from Long Island, and three 
persons with him, who had stopped with me over night 
as travellers, and who had not, to my knowledge, had 
any thing to do with the matters at that time agitating 
the state ; and a Mr. Lyman Cooley, who had left the 
village the night before, and had returned that morning 
to my house, through fear, as he stated, that he could 
not make his escape. Said Cooley was from New York 
city ; was taken prisoner in my house that morning ; 
imprisoned in the county jail and state's prison in Prov- 
idence in a state of insanity, and soon after died an in- 
mate of the asylum for the poor in said Providence. 
Mr. Cooley was formerly a Providence man. I con- 
sidered him to be in a state of insanity from his appear- 
ance and conversation on the morning of the 28th, 
before he was taken prisoner. None of- the persons in 
my house, at the time of the arrival of the advance 
guard as aforesaid, were, to my knowledge, in any way 
armed ; there was no such instrument as a musket, gun, 
pistol, sword, or the like, to be seen in said house. As 
said advance guard drove up in front of my house in 
carriages, the citizens of the village soon collected in 
the front piazza, and about the doors, to the number of 
ten or a dozen, which number gradually increased for a 
few minutes ; none of whom were, to my knowledge, 
armed. I was standing on the piazza in front of the 
entry door leading to the bar room ; the persons com- 
prising said advance guard, having alighted from their 
carriages, came along scatteringly, and advancing to- 



160 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

wards me. I observed one shaking hands with Mr. 
Alexander Eddy, a citizen of this pkce ; heard them in 
conversation while approaching the spot where I was 
standing. As they came on to the piazza, I, turning 
partly around, invited them to walk in ; they not heed- 
ing my invitation, I repeated it. At this juncture they 
all stood apparently hesitating what course to take. I 
stepped over the threshold of the door, and again in- 
vited them to walk in. At the last invitation, one of • 
the advance guard placed his musket across the door 
afore alluded to, in the act of guarding it. Mr. Alex- 
ander Eddy at that moment attempted to pass in at the 
door, and the guard dropped the muzzle of his gun to 
prevent him from passing in ; the guard then turned 
his left eye over his left shoulder to the street, and 
whilst he was looking to the street, Eddy raised the 
muzzle of said guard's musket, and passed into the 
entry. When said person who was guarding the door 
as aforesaid turned his face fronting the house, and 
saw Eddy in the entry, he brought his musket to 
bear upon him, (said Eddy,) and, calling him a God 
damned rascal, told him to come out, or he would shoot 
him down. At this time there was a general cry 
amongst the persons of the advance guard — " God 
damn 'em, shoot 'em down," and simultaneously a rush 
for the doorway. I was standing near the person who 
first brought his piece to bear upon Eddy, and raised 
the muzzle above the head of any one in the entry, by 
putting my hand under his gun. 

There was a general rush at this time of the armed 
soldiers and unarmed citizens and spectators for the 
doorway, and the entry was immediately filled with 
both classes — the armed soldiers attempting to shoot 
the unarmed, and continually keeping up the cry of 
*' God damn 'em, shoot ^em down^ I was in the midst 
of the scene, and was continually raising and brushing 
oflf the muskets, pistols, carbines, &c., with which they 



THOMAS WILSON DOUR. 161 

were armed ; commanding them not to slioot ; tellino- 
them they were not resisted by any armed force ; stat- 
ing to them that they produced the whole confusion 
and disorder, and that if they would be quiet, order 
would ^ be restored ; that I could and would maintain 
order in my house, I should think that, during this 
confusion, I brushed from my own person, and other 
unarmed persons, muskets, guns, pistols, and the like, 
as much as a dozen times. During the squabble afore- 
mentioned, I was pushed some seven or eight feet from 
the doorway into the entry, into about the midst of the 
crowd. In the mean time the door was pushed to, and 
locked by an unarmed man, and held by unarmed per- 
sons ; the armed persons on the outside attempted to 
break said door down. Knowing that the unarmed 
persons in the entry could at that time protect them- 
selves against those that were , armed, I passed through 
the bar room from said entry, and went on to the 
piazza outside of the house, through one of the bar 
room windows, thinking I might be serviceable in pre- 
venting mischief on the outside. As I passed the first 
bar room window from the entry, in my attempt to ^et 
outside, some one of the soldiers thrust a pistol through 
a pane of glass in said window, directed or aimed at 
me. I passed to the next window, raised it, and went 
out. Being outside, and on the piazza aforesaid, the 
first thing that attracted my attention was said John T. 
Pitman with the muzzle of his musket or carbine at 
the key-hole of said entry door, and attempting to get 
it off. I was within about fifteen feet of said Pitman 
when I alighted from the window, and immediately 
approached him, and ordered him not to fire ; my lan- 
guage was, "For God's sake, don't you fire in there.'' 
This expression I think I made directly as I alighted 
from the window as aforesaid. I intended, if I c^ould, 
to prevent said Pitman from firing in, and approached 
him for that purpose; but his piece was discharo-ed 
14* "'> 



162 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

wlien I was within about three feet of him. I recollect 
said Pitman's language at the time of firing was, ** J don^t 
care a God damn; I mean to kill somebody.'^ After 
said Pitman had discharged his piece as aforesaid, he 
rushed a few steps to the north, on the piazza, and 
then back towards- the door, rapidly, appearing per- 
fectly frantic, infuriated, and fiendish. About this time 
the main body of Colonel Brown^s regiment were in 
sight, mid such as had arriyed proceeded to surround the 
house. I entered the front door, which is about twenty 
feet north of the one aforementioned, passed through 
one of the front rooms into the aforementioned entry^ 
and unlocked the door through which said Pitman had 
discharged his piece. The ball which was fired through 
the key-hole as aforesaid, passed through the thigh of 
Mr. George H. N. Bardine, making a deep and severe 
flesh wound. Said Bardine was at the time in said 
entry, and near the door. Up to this time I heard no 
other discharge of fire-arms near or about my house, 
and am very positive there had been none ; had there 
been any, I must have heard and known it. In a very 
few minutes my house was completely filled with armed 
men, and was entirely in their possession — every door 
guarded by soldiers. Soon after, or about the time the 
matters just spoken of were transpiring, I retired into 
the back part of the house, and discovered a soldier 
standing at one of the back doors with his musket 
cocked and bayonet fixed, and aimed into the housOy 
and ordering the males and females to march into the 
back yard, one at a time. This, however, was aban- 
doned by my assuring them that the ladies were un- 
armed, and would most certainly do no harm to any of 
them. The soldiers who took possession of my house 
were abusive and rou2rh in their lan^rias^e and behavior* 
from the time they entered as aforesaid, during my con- 
tinuance on the premises, which was up to four o'clock,, 
P. M., of Wednesday the 29tlL This I do not mean 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 163 

to apply to all of them ; but it was the fact with very 
many. They took possession of every room in the 
house, and of all my effects, and ransacked from garret 
to cellar. There were neither arms nor munitions of 
war in the house, to my knowledge, at the time, except 
a small bird gun or fowling-piece, which was taken and 
cai-rled off. Soon after the main body of Colonel 
Brown's regiment arrived, about half a dozen pieces of 
cannon were planted on the south and west sides of my 
hous-e, and aimed towards it. They (that is, the sol- 
diers) swore the}^ would "blow us all to hell." They 
were prevailed upon not to fire into the house, by the 
interposition of two of the citizens of the village, who 
informed them that they were for " law and order, '^^ but 
disapproved of their firing into the house. The guns 
were afterwards wheeled about, and fired a number of 
times, to the great destruction of windows in my house 
and of other houses in the immediate vicinity. There 
are sidelights to the door, (through the key-hole of 
which said Pitman discharged his piece,) with glass 
nine by twelve, through which he might easily see 
every thing which was going on in the entry aforesaid, 
there being four lights on each side of said door, of the 
aforementioned size ; and the aforementioned front door, 
about twenty feet further north on said piazza, was open 
during the aforementioned squabble in the entry. Noth- 
ing prevented any one^ if he chose, from passing 
through said last-mentioned door. 

About sunrise on the morning of Tuesday, the 28th, 
I directed my domestics to set the table the whole 
length of the dining room, (one range of tables in said 
room will accommodate about sixty persons at a time,) 
and to put upon it all the victuals it would hold, and to 
be prepared to supply it as soon as need might require 
it ; all of which was accordingly done. Immediately 
after the arrival of the troops, as aforesaid, the table 
aforesaid was filled, and continued to be filled from the 



164 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

time of their arrival in the morning, until between four 
and five o'clock in the afternoon : as fast as one got up 
another would supply the vacant place. In addition to 
those seated at the table eating, others were standing 
and eating victuals, which they took and had reached, to 
them from the table. 

There were also persons in the kitchen when the cook- 
ing was going on, who were taking victuals as the same 
were cooked^ and others helping themselves from the 
closets and cellar. The table was also set for them 
again that evening, and a great many were victualled as 
aforesaid on the two succeeding days. 

In taking possession of my barns, stables, and gran- 
ary, they took possession of about twenty tons of hay, 
between eight hundred and one thousand bushels of 
oats, and from fifty to seventy -five bushels of corn, and 
between one and two tons of rye straw, — aU of which 
was used and destroyed, with the exception of some- 
thing less than one ton of hay. They also took pos- 
session of six horses at that time in the stable, five or 
six carriages, and as many harnesses, buffalo robes, 
and whips ; five of the horses were used, and I believe 
the other one, by the charter party, (so called ;) two of 
said harnesses have never been returned ; four of the 
bufl[ldo robes, and some half dozen or more of whips 
which were taken, have not, as yet, been recovered. 
During the Tuesday and Wednesday aforementioned, 
up to the time of my departure from the village, 
my house, barns, &c., were constantly guarded, and I 
was denied access to my barns and stables, and to many 
of the rooms in my house. 

The troops of the charter party (so called) also had 
full possession of my liquor bar and cellar, and helped 
themselves to cigars, wines, and ardent spirits, accord- 
ing to their pleasure ; several hundred dollars worth of 
property was consumed or destroyed in liquors and 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 165 

cigars. I was generally a spectator to the scenes before 
described, after they had taken possession of my house ; 
but was occasionally ordered about, at the muzzle of a 
presented musket or pistol, to perform some service 
about the house or bar. One man, in two instances, or- 
dered me, in an authoritative tone, with a pistol presented 
at me, *^ to feed his horses ; " previous to this, all of the 
white males in my employ had been taken prisoners, 
and put under guard. 

On Wednesday morning, the 29th, my wife and the 
females in the kitchen were put under guard, and set to 
work cooking ; said guard was armed. Immediately 
after this, I was taken prisoner, but was released on 
parole, with my promise to be in Providence at six 
o'clock, P. M., of that day. I was arrested by Colonel 
W. W. Brown aforementioned, soon after which he left 
the village with between one and two hundred prison- 
ers who had been taken at Chepatchet and the country 
round about. I saw said prisoners tied together in front 
of my house, with ropes, previous to their departure for 
Providence. An houi* or two after my arrest, and after 
the departure of Colonel Brown with the prisoners, Ex- 
Governor William C. Gibbs sent for me to come to his 
room, which was in my house, when he gave me an 
examination as to my participation in the Rhode Island 
affairs ; and the following is a true copy of an instru- 
ment thereupon given to me, which was in my presence 
written by the Rev. Francis Vinton, of Newport, and 
in my presence signed by said Gibbs ; which instru- 
ment is now in my possession, and at this time before 
me, and is exactly in the following letters, words, and 
figures : — 

Jedediah Sprague (after due examination) is hereby 
released from arrest. 

Wm. C. Gibbs, General of Staff. 

Jujie 29, 1842. 



166 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Having pledged myself to Colonel Brown to be in 
Providence at six o'clock in the afternoon, I, notwith- 
standing the release from Governor Gibbs, went into 
Providence to report myself according to promise, hav- 
ing with me said discharge from Governor Gibbs. I 
understood, after I arrived at Providence, that there was 
talk of having me again arrested. On inquiry by me. 
Who is going to have me arrested ? the reply was, 
Henry L. Bowen. I exhibited my discharge or release 
to Governor Samuel "Ward King, stating to him that I 
was threatened with another arrest. His reply was, in 
regard to the release which I had exhibited to him, "/ 
donH knoio but what it is suifficient — donH know about 
it — don't know,"" I then went to the office of Henry 
L. Bowen, Esq., a justice of the peace in and for the 
city of Providence. I went voluntarily, not having 
been arrested or apprehended, saving by Colonel Brown, 
as aforestated. I understood that said Bowen was acting 
as a commissioner under martial law. He asked me a 
number of questions, which I answered ; no witnesses 
were examined. Mr. Bowen finally ordered a consta- 
ble in attendance to take me to prison ; which was 
accordingly done. Said Bowen stated to me, at the 
time, upon my inquiring what the charge was against 
me, that " it was treason," and that " the evidence was, 
that I had entertained at my house Thomas W. Dorr, 
and the persons associated with him." I remained in 
prison twenty-two days, and suffered much from indis- 
position ; I was in feeble health when committed — was 
just recovering from a long period of illness. After I 
had been in prison about two weeks, I was taken before 
a court of commissioners, as it was styled, and exam- 
ined by interrogatories directed to me only. I was not 
confronted by witnesses, nor were any examined on 
the occasion, to my knowledge. After the examination 
as aforesaid, I was remanded to prison. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 167 

The following is a true copy of certain papers now 
before me, which I procured this spring from the 
keeper of the county jail and warden of the state's 
prison, and are exactly in the following words, letters, 
figures, and characters, to wit: — 

To the Keeper of the Providence County Jail : 
You are hereby required to receive, and safely keep, 

until further orders, Jedediah Sprague, in the debtor's 

apartment. 

By order of the Commander-in-Chief 

Henry L. Bowen. 

June 29, 1842. 

Providence, ss. 

Committed the bodies of the within-named Jedediah 
Sprague to the Providence county jail, as within com- 
manded. 

Fees, 74 cts. Peleg Johnson, Constable, 

June 29, 1842. 

Providence, ss. 

Committed the bodies of Jedediah Sprague and Jo- 
seph Hogans to the Providence county jail, by order of 
the governor and council, and have made my return on 
the mittimus, and left it with the jailer, together with 
the prisoner. 

Fees — 2 commitments, . . $1 48 
Carriage, .... 1 00 



2 48 
Peleg Johnson, Constable, 

Protidence, Jult/ 21, 1842. 
Jedediah Sprague, named opposite, was discharged 
on an order from the governor and council. 

Thomas Cleveland, Jailer, 



168 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Head Quarters, Council Chamber, ) 
Providence, Jul>/ 21, 1842. $ 

Sir: You are ordered to discharge Jedediah Sprague, 

prisoner of war, and allow him to go at liberty. 

By order of his Excellency, Samuel W. King. 

L. H. Arnold, one of his Council. 

To Thos. Cleveland, Esq., 

Keeper of the State Jail, Providence, 

The above is a true copy of the original order on file. 
Thos. Cleveland, Jailer. 

Providence, April 6, 1844. 

April 6, 1844. 

The above are correct copies of the original order of 
commitment, officer's return thereon, commitment and 
discharge of Jedediah Sprague. 

Thomas Cleveland, Jailer. 

This deposition was sworn to before Jesse S. Tourtel- 
lot, justice of the peace. 

In 1844, Mr. Sprague applied to the legislature for 
a remuneration for the property which the state troops 
had so taken, used, and destroyed. This application 
was rejected in the House of Representatives by a vote 
of 35 to 17, and in reply to his demand Mr. Sprague 
was told that " he had been taken and imprisoned as an 
insurgent, and had been let out of jail on sufferance, 
and ought to be thankful for being let off so easily." 

The brave Colonel Brown, with the band of lawless 
robbers under his command, returned to Providence on 
the 29th of June, bringing with him one hundred and 
thirty prisoners, every man with his hands pinioned be- 
hind him, and all tied together with coarse ropes. In 
that condition they were marched, and driven, and urged 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 169 

on by the bayonet from Chepatchet to Providence, a dis- 
tance of sixteen miles, without any refreshment. Here, 
flitigued and faint, — their spirits broken, their arms 
chafed and bleeding from the ropes, and their feet 
bruised and sore,— they were halted in front of the 
"Hoyle Tavern," so called, and were there publicly 
submitted to all the insults and reproaches that a pro- 
fane and lawless multitude could heap upon them. 
After this barbarous infernalia, the prisoners were again 
moved along in front of Colonel Brown's own house 
for further insult : here they were mocked, hissed at, 
and spit upon, and Algerine ladies waved their hand- 
kerchiefs and threw a profusion of flowers from their 
windows upon the brave conquerors. In this manner 
one hundred and thirty innocent citizens of Rhode 
Island were led through the principal streets in the 
city of Roger Williams, amid the loud taunts and jeers 
of ^ a ruthless mob. But all this was not enough. The 
prisoners were next given to understand that they were 
to be taken back of College Hill, and there to be shot. 
No tongue can tell the feehngs of indignation and hor- 
ror which thrilled the bosoms of these innocent victims 
of political malice, nor shall we attempt to describe the 
deep anguish which often broke out in loud screeches 
from the children and friends of some of the prisoners. 
But they were not shot; their captors called themselves 
merciful men, and therefore marched the prisoners to 
the jail, and crowded them into the cells. In some cells 
only seven feet by nine, with a single aperture, seven 
inches by four, for the admission of air, fourteen pris- 
oners were confined. "When it is recollected that this 
15 



170 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

was the 29tli of June, and the hottest part of the sea- 
son, we wonder that any ever escaped aUve from those 
dungeons. If a single negro, who had escaped from 
his master in South Carolina, had been treated with 
half that indignity and cruelty in the city of Provi- 
dence, the whole population would have rushed to his 
rescue. 

By this time, the cells of the state prison and the 
filthy, dark receptacles and other apartments of nearly 
all the jails in the state were densely crowded with men 
who had been captured and made prisoners by bands of 
land pirates. The most heinous crime which any of 
the prisoners had committed was to vote for the peo- 
ple's constitution and for officers under it, and many of 
their captors and the principal leaders of these banditti 
were men who had also voted for that same constitution, 
and solemnly engaged to support it, but who had since 
forfeited their own engagements, and become traitors to 
a righteous cause. The victims were true men, their 
captors were false. 

On the 28th of June, whilst Colonel Brown was earn- 
ing such laurels at Chepatchet, Governor King gave 
orders to Colonel Hodges to proceed immediately to 
Pawtucket, and blow up the bridge at that place. This 
bridge is situated near the centre of a village, which prob- 
ably contained at that time about ten thousand inhab- 
itants. The Pawtucket River, which this bridge crosses, 
separates the State of Massachusetts from Rhode Island, 
and of course is one half in each state. This bridge is 
constantly occupied by passers, and is the only direct 
connecting medium between the separate parts of this 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 171 

large village. It was opposite tliis bridge, on the Mas- 
sachusetts side, that Alexander Kelby had been shot by 
the ** law and order " forces the day before. The fol- 
lowing is the deposition of Harvey Chafee, who was a 
lieutenant in the company which was sent on that expe- 
dition. 

Deposition of Harvey Chafee. 

I, Harvey Chafee, of Providence, in the State of 
Rhode Island, forty years of age, depose and say : That, 
on the 28th day of June, 1842, I was first lieutenant of 
the united company. Train Artillery of Providence. I 
had formerly held the commission of lieutenant colonel 
in the same company, and resigned in 1833, and con- 
tinued an honorary member. On the 27th of June I 
was elected lieutenant, and, understanding the company 
was only to be used as an unarmed patrol, I accepted 
the commission, and was qualified. The company then 
had no arms ; Colonel Bradford Hodges was the com- 
mander. Tuesday morning, the 28th, after it was 
known that a man had been shot at Pawtucket, we 
paraded at the armory. As one of the officers, I was 
there shown an order from Governor King to Colonel 
Bradford Hodges, to this effect : " You are commanded 
to proceed forthwith to Pawtucket, and blow up Paw- 
tucket bridge." The order was signed by Samuel W. 
King, commander-in-chief. I have a distinct recollec- 
tion that such was the substance of the order, and am 
certain that it was an order to blow up the bridge. 
There were two cannon mounted, with ammunition; 
but we had no muskets. We were expecting every 
moment muskets from Massachusetts. Shortly after, 
the muskets did arrive at the railroad depot, from Bos- 
ton, and were brought to the armory in boxes. The 
muskets were there taken out of the boxes, and were 
the United States Massachusetts muskets. They were 



112 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

in very bad condition ; the bayonets would not fit, and 
could not be made to fit. They were afterwards tried, 
and many of them could not be got off, and the charges 
had to be drawn. After the muskets were distributed, 
we proceeded to Pawtucket with the two cannon, and, 
when half the distance, halted and charged the cannon 
with canister and grape, and the small arms with ball ; 
then proceeded to Pawtucket bridge, and drew up the 
cannon so as to command the bridge and the Massachu- 
setts side. We saw no armed persons, nor any dis- 
turbance, nor indication of an invasion of Rhode Island 
from Massachusetts. There was excitement growing out 
of what had happened the night previous, but no direct 
interference with us. Colonel Hodges communicated 
to one of the officers of one of the companies which 
were at Pawtucket when we arrived, that his orders 
were to blow up the bridge, and he took the command 
of the forces. During some parts of the time we were 
stationed there, there were as many as four hundred 
troops, I should judge. It was understood that Captain 
Olney, who commanded one of the companies, (the car- 
bineers,) was a New York man, and not a citizen of 
Rhode Island. The artillery company occupied this 
post till Thursday noon, when we took up our line of 
jmarch for Providence. While we were in Pawtucket, 
I could not see the least occasion for the company being 
stationed there. Harvey Chafee. 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Bristol, ss. ) 
Pawtucket, May 10, 1844. 3 

Personally appeared the above-named Harvey Chafee, 
and, being duly cautioned and sworn, made and sub- 
scribed the foregoing, reduced to writing by me in his 
presence. Before me, B. F. Haixett, 

Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace 

throuich the Commonwealth, 

o 

We have seen that on the 27th of June, Mr. Dorr 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. US 

caused all the men who had taken up arms in support 
of the people's constitution to be dismissed, and the 
charter authorities declared, that by that act, the " war 
was ended ; " but their own wicked outrages did no't end 
here. The charter troops, anxious to gain new laurels, 
went forward with less fear, when they found that all 
opposition was withdrawn. Revenge was the watch- 
word, and although their victims were often found 
among their own quiet neighbors, they still " cried 
havoc and let slip the dogs of war " upon them. On 
the night of the 30th of June, 1842, after every indica- 
tion of opposition to the charter government had been 
put to silence. Colonel Blodget, who commanded a small 
detachment of " law and order " troops, marched his 
forces into the town of Bellingham, in the State of Mas- 
sachusetts, and a little past midnight, forcibly broke 
open and entered a public house, and proceeded to 
search it, and when the keeper demanded of the com- 
manding officer his authority. Colonel Blodget replied, 
By the authority of the bayonet ! At this place the party 
succeeded in arresting several inoffensive men, whom 
they marched to Rhode Island to be imprisoned, be- 
cause they had been known to be in favor of the peo- 
ple's constitution. At the same time similar operations 
were going on in different parts of the state, as the fol- 
lowing deposition will show. 

Deposition of Stafford Healy. 

I, Stafford Healy, of Rehoboth, in the county of Bris- 
tol, in the CommouAvealth of IMassachusetts, yeoman, of 
lawful age, testify and say : That on the twenty-ninth 
15* 



174 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred 
and forty-two, when at work for Martin Luther, in the 
town of Warren, in the State of Ehode Island, and 
being myself at that time a citizen of said Warren, I 
was forcibly taken by a number of armed men early in 
the morning, some time before sunrise, who broke into 
the house and took me therefrom, and carried me to a 
hotel, when, after making some inquiries of me, I was 
again removed to the jail of Bristol county, and there 
confined for the space of seven or eight days, when I 
was examined by Joseph M. Blake, and discharged in 
the course of three days- — nothing being, as he said, 
found against me ; and all by no authority, to my 
knowledge, except that of force. 

Stafford Healy. 

Many of the principal leaders in these outrages were 
men, who, all their lives, had either sought or held 
office, and who were guided on all occasions by motives 
of self-aggrandizement, and though professedly friendly 
to the dear people, always sought to crush them, as the 
following deposition will show. 

Deposition of Albion N. Olney. 

I, Albion N. Olney, of Providence, in the State of 
Rhode Island, attorney at law, depose and say : That 
on Sunday, the 26th day of June, 1842, I was on the 
premises of Otis Holmes, in said Providence, but not in 
his house, when he was forcibly dragged from it by a 
number of armed men, who had broken into his house. 
I also saw him carried through the streets, with a per- 
son holding him on each side by the collar, and armed 
men in front and rear. He was marched to the office 
of Henry L. Bowen. There were from twenty to thirty 
armed men, and many who were not armed. I saw 
among the leaders Sylvester Hartshorn, the United 



THOMAS WILSO.X DORR. 175 

States marshal for the district. He was not armed, 
having only a cane, but appeared to take an active part 
in the proceedings. I saw Mr. Holmes's brewery 
broken open, and also his store and counting room, and 
another store adjoining. Mr. Holmes, in the house and 
at the brewery, begged them not to break in, and he 
would fui-nish the keys ; but no attention was paid to 
his request. While the soldiers were marching ^Ir. 
Holmes through Westminster Street, I he'ard Joseph F. 
Arnold, who was an inspector in the custom house, say 
to his son, (who, armed with a musket and fixed bayo- 
net, marched dhectly in the rear of Mr. Holmes,) 

*^ Prick him, Frank ; prick the d— d scoundrel." 

Mr. Arnold was standing in front of his house as the 
men passed, and said this in an audible voice. I heard 
and remember the words distinctly. On several days 
after, I saw Sylvester Hartshorn, the United States 
marshal, equipped with a musket and accoutrements, 
drilling and doing duty with a volunteer company of 
citizens. On the 18th of May I saw Hon. John Pit- 
man, judge of the United States District Court, in the 
ranks of the charter troops, armed with a musket. 
During the period of martial law, I saw Edward J. 
Mallett, the Providence postmaster, doing duty as 
guard in College Street. At the same time that I saw 
Judge Pitman in the ranks, I also saw Richard W. 
Greene, United States district attorney, marching as 
one of the soldiers to go on Fedeml Hill, and WilHam 
E. Watson, collector. Albion N. Okney. 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Bri^ol, ^s. ) 
Pawtucket, May 9, 1844, ^ 

Personally appeared the above-named Albion N. 
Olney, and made oath to and subscribed the foregoing, 
reduced to writing in his presence by me. Before me, 

B. F. Hallett, 
Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace 

thrnufrh the CoriUKonucalth. 



176 THE liiTS ASB TlME-g^ €&" 



CHAPTEE XI 



MARTIAL LAW. 



Hitherto, in describing and commenting wpcn the 
outrages committed upon the persons and property of 
the people of Rhode Island under the pretext of martial 
law, we have viewed them as acts of flagrant injustice^ 
unnecessary, and before unknown in this country, with- 
out instituting any inquiry into the validity of the act 
under which they were committed. But the justifica- 
tion set up by the authors and perpetrators of those acts 
deserves a further and more definite consideration. 
Every wrong doer in that ruthless tragedy pleads mar- 
tial law in full justification of all his acts. It is be- 
lieved that, in this country, martial law is but vaguely 
understood by the great mass of the people. We have 
only leai'ned, from history, that this terrible engine was 
sometimes put in operation in the earlier history of some 
of the European nations ; that it was seldom or never 
resorted to except in actual warfare, and then pro- 
claimed by a military chieftain. But it is well ascer- 
tained that no civil government in the known world, 
except Hhode Island, has attempted to establish it over 
a whole empire or single state for the last two hundred 
years. Its consequences were found to be so abhorrent 



THOMAS WiLSOK UOiili. ^ 177 

to every sentiment of humanity, that the whole civilized 
■vvoiid united to abolish it. Now, it is evident that 
the Ehode Island General Assembly neither in 184^ 
nor at any other time before or since possessed any legal 
or constitutional power to place the state under martiai 
law. The act was not authorized by any precedent in 
this country or in any other recently. The charter, un- 
der which that body acted, gave them no such author- 
ity, but impliedly, at least, forbade it; and by the rat- 
ification of the constitution of the United States all 
such power had been delegated to the General Govern- 
ment. The state authorities might call upon the" po55c 
comitatus, or the military, if necessary, to enforce their 
own statute laws ; but this was the extent of their power. 
They could never authorize any functionary, civil or 
military, to overstep the provisions of the constitution 
of the United States. In short, the state had no right 
whatever to make or exercise any but civil laws. It 
may be presumed that the legislature, which passed that 
act in Ehode Island, did not fully realize the dangerous 
step they were taking ; but, relying upon their own 
omnipotence, they assumed the tremendous responsi- 
bility of surrendering the lives and interests of the 
whole people to the mercy of the bayonet. At the time 
martial law was declared in Rhode Island, the judicial 
tribunals of the state were open for the trial of all 
offences, and their proceedings in no way interfered with 
or molested. Under the double rule of both civil and 
martial law, the state presented the strange anomaly of 
two separate and distinct systems of government in full 
operation in the same state and over the same people at 



178 %HE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the same time. But, in operating these different politi- 
cal engines, the acts of each were not always kept dis- 
tinct from the other, but men were arrested and im- 
prisoned under martial law, and afterwards brought to 
trial before a civil tribunal. All such proceedings were 
evidently arbitrary and illegal ; they tended to break up 
all the foundations of social order, overturn all civil and 
political institutions, restore the reign of force, and 
make might the test of right. Martial law has never 
been justified except from dire necessity ; it is governed 
by no rules, and knows no limits ; it overrides and sus- 
pends all other laws during its continuance. Accord- 
ing to the principles held in countries where martial 
law has been resorted to, the right to employ it arises 
solely from imperious necessity, and ceases the instant 
the necessity that called it forth has passed by ; and 
all acts committed under any such pretext, after that 
necessity has ceased, have ever been held criminal. 
Therefore, if, on the 24th of June, 1842, such neces- 
sity had existed, and the legislature of Ehode Island 
had possessed the constitutional power to set up martial 
law, in a momentary crisis, it is obvious that on the 28th 
of that month the cause had entirely ceased, as the gov- 
ernment well knew ; and therefore every act of violence 
committed after that time, under that pretext, was just as 
much a crime as if no such law had ever existed. It is ap- 
parent that no such necessity ever existed at any moment 
during the Ehode Island controversy. The government 
should first have resisted the supposed rebellion by its 
civil officers ; and if they were found unable of them- 
selves to enforce the laws and bring delinquents to jus- 



THOMAS WILSON DORU. 179 

tice, tliey should next have called on the civil posse ; 
and if, with, that assistance, the government still found 
itself unable to compel obedience to its institutions, the 
whole military power of the state might have been 
called in aid of the government. But, without taking 
any of these steps, immediate resort was had to martial 
law, and all the men and munitions of war that the 
government could command at home or procure from 
abroad were forthwith turned out to prey upon all such 
as were supposed to entertain political principles adverse 
to the charter government. But even martial law, with 
all its summary claims, does not, as was supposed in 
Ehode Island, instantly convert the whole military into 
a band of lawless freebooters ; but as soon as that law 
is suspended, every one who has overstepped its neces- 
sary limits is liable to be brought to trial before a civil 
tribunal ; and, if the view which has been taken of the 
subject be correct, then all the acts of violence and vil- 
lany committed in Rhode Island in 1842, under pretext 
of martial law, constitute a fearful catalogue of crimes, 
which never have been, and never can be, fully atoned 
for in this world. But we are asked. Why have not 
the perpetrators of these deeds been brought to trial be- 
fore courts of justice ? To this, we answer, they could 
not be proceeded against out of the state for offences 
committed within its jurisdiction, and the highest tribu- 
nals within the state allow all such defendants to justify 
themselves by pleading martial law. 

When we consider that nearly all the most outrageous 
and wicked acts of violence were committed after all 
opposition had ceased, and that hundreds of men were 



180 TliE LIFE. AND TIMES OF 

taken by violent hands from their homes^ their fields^ 
or their workshops, surrounded with muskets and bayo- 
nets, bound with ropes, and, without any kind of pre- 
cept, driven to prison amid the loud taunts and insults 
of savage men and heartless women, crowded like sheep 
into dark, narrow, and filthy cells, nearly suffocated for 
want of air, without water sufficient to quench their 
thirst, fed like pigs upon two wretched and scanty meals 
a day, denied all intercourse with their friends, and 
kept in this painful condition, in some instances, for sev- 
eral weeks, and when at last they were brought forth 
from their dungeons for examination, w^ere told that 
nothing was found against them ; when we recollect 
also that the victors and their victims were, in many 
instances, neighbors and acquaintances ; when we see 
bands of armed men firing at random into a crowd of 
innocent spectators ; when we behold a defenceless in- 
dividual coolly shot down, whilst without the jurisdic- 
tion of the state, and the next day, when it is known 
that all opposition has. ceased, we see the chief magis- 
trate of the state, without any cause whatever, send an 
armed squadron to blow up a bridge in the very midst 
of a populous city, a portion of which was beyond his 
jurisdiction, — when we reflect upon these and hundreds 
of other transactions of a like nature, we sicken at the 
thought of that deep depravity which breaks out in 
such a malicious persecution of men for opinion's sake, 
which has no parallel in modern times. 

This terrible scourge held the whole people of Rhode 
Island in its paralyzing grasp from June till September, 
and was in full force and operation for more than half 



THOMAS WILSON DOUR. 181 

of that time. A fearful espionage watched over the 
whole community. Men rose, and labored^ and slept, 
made their vows and said their prayers, #ursed their 
sick and buried their dead, amid its impending terrors, 
and whilst the bloody mantle of martial law, like a 
funeral pall thrown over the tomb of liberty, cast its 
dark fold over every corner of the State of Ehode 
Island. 

16 



182 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XII. 

COM^nSSIONERS APPOINTED TO EXAMINE THE PRISON- 
ERS. PROCEEDINGS. MEASURES TAKEN TO FORM 
ANOTHER CONSTITUTION. CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE 
AT THE TIME. CONSTITUTION DECLARED ADOPTED. 

At an adjourned session of the General Assembly, 
held at Newport in June, 1843, commissioners, as they 
were called, were appointed, whose duty was to hold 
courts of inquisition upon the prisoners, with whom the 
jails were crowded. It will be recollected that these 
prisoners had not been committed upon warrants, but by 
virtue of the bayonet, and they were not informed of 
the charges to which they would be required to an- 
swer. Each commissioner, like some grand inquisitor, 
possessed almost absolute power over every prisoner 
brought before him. The prisoners were not allowed 
counsel or witnesses, but each man was adjured, by the 
terrors of the bayonet and the dungeon, to confess his 
guilt and testify against himself. Some of the men, 
who now sat as judges in these dread tribunals, had, 
less than one year before, recorded their own names in 
favor of that constitution which they now declared ille- 
gal, and its support treason. A large number of pris- 
oners, after having been kept in close confinement from 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 183 

five or six days to as many weeks, were discharged, be- 
cause tlieir judges said nothing was found against them. 
Yet it is believed that in most instances, as a condition 
of their release, the prisoners were required to engage 
to support the charter government. Some complied 
with these humiliating terms, and others spurned them ; 
and a large number of prisoners were retained in 
close jail, to be tried for treason. Some were tried, 
found guilty, and recommended to mercy by the jury. 
Martin Luther, a respectable farmer in Warren, in the 
county of Bristol, was arrested some time afterwards, 
and found guilty of acting as moderator of a town 
meeting held under the people's constitution, and sen- 
tenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars, to be im- 
prisoned in close jail six months, and to pay all costs of 
prosecution. This sentence was carried into execution. 
Whoever candidly reflects upon the history which 
has been given of the Rhode Island controversy, must, 
we think, be satisfied of the following facts : First, 
that absolute political sovereignty is always inherent 
in the great body of the people, and that this prerog- 
ative is before and paramount to all constitutions and 
civil compacts, and that the right to its exercise can 
never be suspended by any means whatever ; and, 
secondly, that the great body of the people of Rhode 
Island, in the exercise of that right, did, in the month 
of December, 1841, ratify and adopt a democratic con- 
stitution for the government of the state, and that also, 
in accordance with that constitution, a majority of the 
people of the state did, in 1842, organize and set up 
such a government as the constitution of the United 



184 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

States guarantees to every state in the Union; and, 
lastly, it has been shown that the government so organ- 
ized and set up, and so guaranteed by the constitution 
of the United States, was crushed out and suppressed 
by the combined forces of the State of Rhode Island 
and the United States. 

In the month of June, 1842, while martial law was 
in full operation, the prisons filled with its victims, and 
the whole population of the state shook as with an 
ague, while the adjacent states were thronged with 
exiles who had fled from the fiery indignation of their 
barbarous pursuers, and while any one who should de- 
clare himself in favor of the people's constitution would 
be immediately consigned to a dungeon, the General 
Assembly issued a call for a convention to form a con- 
stitution. It has already been shown that the General 
Assembly could not, by force of law, take any initiatory 
steps towards forming a constitution, and also that that 
body solemnly declared, by the mouth of their com- 
mittee, in 1829, that the legislature could not, and 
would not, do any thing in the premises, and that no 
constitution before or since the revolution had been 
formed, or could be formed, more free and popular than 
that under which the people then lived. 

Notwithstanding all this, the General Assembly now, 
for the first time, ascertained that the State of Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations had no constitution, 
and therefore thought proper that immediate steps 
should be taken to establish one. They considered it 
expedient that the work should be commenced forth- 
with ; they believed that to be a favorable time for the 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 185 

5indei1:aking, when their own sabres gleamed and their 
own cannon roared in unison with those of the national 
executive. Now, when they had their iron heels upon 
the necks of the people, they deemed it a most favor- 
able time to induce them humbly to accept a constitu- 
tion as a special boon from the General Assembly, fear- 
ing that when they came to be released from duress, 
they might revive again their own constitution, which 
lay crushed beneath the weight of arms. Therefore 
the General Assembly proceeded to request all such of 
the people as possessed certain qualifications to meet in 
their respective towns on the 8th day of August, and 
vote for delegates to meet in convention and form a 
constitution. Pursuant to that request, meetings were 
held and delegates elected, who afterwards met in con- 
vention, and drew up a constitution, which was sub- 
mitted to such of the people as were permitted to vote 
under its provisions. The voting took place on the 21st, 
22d, and 23d days of November, 1842. The act of the 
General Assembly placing the state under martial law 
had not be^n repealed, and proceedings under it had 
only been suspended by proclamation of the governor, 
who might also, at any moment by proclamation, give it 
vitality. The people were not released from duress ; 
they durst not speak freely their own sentiments. 
Many suffrage men were still in exile, and others were 
in prison. Large rewards were offered for Mr. Dorr, 
and requisitions were continually made upon the gov- 
ernors of the neighboring states for the flying fugitives. 
Under such circumstances, the voting upon the proposed 
16* 



186 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

constitution took place^ and the most strenuous exer- 
tions were made to bring out a large vote in its favor. 
On counting the votes, it was found that 7024 had 
voted in favor of it, and 51 against it. The legislature 
therefore proceeded to declare the constitution adopted 
hj a majority of 6973 votes. 

Now, it will be recollected, that although the people's 
constitution received 13,944: votes, the charter govern- 
ment repeatedly declared in their General Assembly, 
and by their delegates in Congress, that it had not 
received a majority of the votes of such as had a right 
to vote for it, and therefore it could not be considered as 
an expression of the wishes of a majority of the whole 
people ; but now, when their own constitution had 
received but one half that number of votes, the General 
Assembly proceeded without hesitation to declare it le- 
gally adopted. And yet, at the very first session of the 
legislature, under that constitution, it was found that 
16,520 votes had been polled for general officers. This 
shows as plainly as figures can show, that the last con- 
stitution received only the votes of a minority. 

Without taking into consideration the comparative 
merits of the two constitutions, we will barely remark 
that the people's constitution received the votes of full 
two thirds of all who had a right to vote upon that 
occasion, and the present constitution received only the 
votes of one third of such as were qualified to vote for 
it; and with these observations we leave the public to 
decide which of the two constitutions in question was 
the free and voluntary choice of the people. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 



187 



The following table shows the number of votes polled 
in each town in the State of Rhode Island, on the 27th, 
28th, and 29th of December, 1841, for the people's con- 
stitution. 



Votes h 


I the City of Providence. 




Qualified. 


Not qualified. 


Against. 


TotaL 


Ward 1, 


162 


362 






Ward 2, 


88 


384 






Ward 3, 


165 


472 






Ward 4, 


142 


357 






Ward 5, 


248 


515 






Ward 6, 


255 


306 




3556 


Smithfield, 


381 


336 


1 


1338 


Cumberland, 


293 


599 




892 


Burrillville, 


134 


149 




283 


Glocester, 


192 


210 




402 


Foster, 


124 


113 


1 


238 


Scituate, 


208 


316 




524 


Johnson, 


136 


210 




846 


North Providence, 


221 


472 


13 


706 


Cranston, 


159 


241 




400 


Warwick, 


308 


587 




895 


Coventry, 


157 


249 




406 


East Greenwich, 


50 


85 


6 


141 


West Greenwich, 


17 


45 




62 


North Kingstown, 


84 


169 




253 


South Kingstown, 


138 


137 


10 


285 


Exeter, 


52 


82 




134 


Richmond, 


44 


88 




132 


Charlestown, 


64 


36 




100 


Hopkinton, 


81 


81 


13 


175 


Westerly, 


107 


144 


1 


252 


Newport, 


317 


890 




1207 


Midclletown, 


8 


22 




30 


Portsmouth, 


67 


59 




126 


Jamestown, 


18 


13 




81 



188 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 





Qualified. 


Not qualified. 


Agaiasf. 


Total, 


New Shoreham, 


102 


30 




132 


Tiverton, 


102 


172 


3 


277 


Little Campton^ 


19 


25 


17 


61 


Bristol, 


151 


218 




369 


Warren, 


^.03 


106 


1 


210 


Barrington, 


28 


24 




52 



Total, 



13,944 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 189 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HIS ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT. 
TRIAL. CONVICTION. SPEECH. SENTENCE. REMOVAL 
TO STATE PRISON. 

Leaving for a time the desultory history of affairs in 
Hhode Island, we will return to Mr. Dorr. As has 
been shown, he left Chepatchet in the evening of the 
27th of June, 1842. He well knew that a spirit of 
deadly hostility had been excited against him, and sup- 
posed that his enemies, emboldened by his flight, would 
cry aloud for blood. In this he was not mistaken. As 
soon as it was ascertained that he had left the state. 
Governor King issued his proclamation, offering a re- 
ward of five thousand dollars for his apprehension ; but 
the chief magistrates of the neighboring states protected 
him from the fury of his mercenary pursuers. The 
Hon. Henry Hubbard, then governor of the State of 
New Hampshire, gave the exiled patriot a cordial wel- 
come. Here Mr. Dorr found a safe asylum from the 
fury of his mad pursuers. The bosom of that illustri- 
ous chief magistrate glowed with true patriotic fire — 
his purpose was firm as his own granite hills, and his 
heart as pure as the snowy mantle which covered their 
sides — unborn generations will bless his memory for 
the noble deed. 



190 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Democracy had fallen in Ehode Island ; the funda- 
mental principles upon which the American govern- 
ments are based had been publicly violated, and the 
power of an oligarchy established by the bayonet. Mr. 
Dorr remained a voluntary exile, hoping that the camp 
fires of his exulting enemies would at length be extin- 
guished, and peace and quiet be so far restored as to 
allow him to return unmolested to his native state, and 
the bosom of his anxious friends. Confiding too much 
in the honor and magnanimity of his conquerors, after 
an absence of nearly one and a half years, he concluded 
to return to his native city. Accordingly, on the last 
day of October, 1843, in the capacity of a quiet citizen, 
he arrived in Providence, and entered his name at the 
City Hotel. Soon after this, Mr. Dorr was arrested by 
an officer upon the charge of treason against the State 
of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and thrust 
into jail in Providence, where he was kept in close con- 
finement until Thursday, the 29th of February, 1844, 
when he was removed to the jail at Newport, in which 
county it had been decided that his trial should take 
place. Contrary to the common law of England and 
the United States, and in violation of every principle of 
justice and humanity, the Supreme Court of the State 
of Ehode Island decreed that the prisoner should be 
tried in a county in which he was a stranger, where it 
was known that almost every man was Jiis avowed 
enemy, away from all his friends and his witnesses, and 
contrary to the earnest solicitation of the prisoner and 
his counsel. 

We would not rashly impugn the motives of a high 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 191 

judicial tribunal, or seek to strip its incumbents of their 
consecrated ermine ; yet experience has taught us that 
the frailties and passions common to all men — the 
same love and the same hate — the same motives of in- 
terest and the same feelings of revenge — may find their 
way to the forum, and sit ensconced beneath the judi- 
cial robe. We would not be too uncharitable, but leave 
every reader to form his own opinion of the justice of 
the proceedings against Mr. Dorr. 

On the 26th of April, 1844, nearly two years after 
the alleged offence was committed — after a written 
constitution had been adopted, and a government 
quietly organized under it — when nothing at home or 
abroad threatened to disturb the peace of the state — 
Mr. Dorr was taken from the prison at Newport, and 
brought before the Supreme Court to be tried for trea- 
son. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, and Samuel 
Y. Atwell and George Turner, Esqrs., were engaged as 
his counsel. The first motion which his counsel made 
to the court- was for a compulsory process for witnesses 
for the respondent, as Mr. Dorr had already exhausted 
all his own means, and was unable to pay the witnesses 
he wished to summon. But the court refused to grant 
the application in the following words : " The accused 
possesses the means to employ counsel ; it is to be pre- 
sumed that he is also able to pay his v/itnesses for their 
attendance ; the motion therefore cannot be granted." 

Mr. Dorr stood before the court penniless and a 
stranger, his friends and witnesses were far away, and 
yet the court refused to grant him a privilege that is 
always allowed to the vilest malefactor. 



192 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

At the time that the court removed Mr. Dorr from 
Providence to Newport for trial, it was well known to 
every one that the inhabitants of that county entertained 
the most violent prejudices against him. Under the 
charter the town of Newport had six representatives in 
the General Assembly, and Providence four, so that in 
1840 Newport had one representative for every thou- 
sand of her population, and Providence one representa- 
tive for every ten thousand. Newport was jealous of 
Providence, and always opposed every effort which was 
made to break up the old order of things, and deprive 
the inhabitants of that section of their prescriptive 
rights. Such were the feelings of the people from 
which a jury was to be taken to try Mr. Dorr. All 
were strangers to him, and if there were any unpreju- 
diced men among them, Mr. Dorr had no means of 
knowing it. We shall not attempt to give a history of 
the empanelling of the jury ; it is sufficient to say that 
twelve men were found who solemnly declared that 
they had formed no opinion as to the guilt or innocence 
of the prisoner ; and the reader can believe them if he 
choose. When we consider that this exciting question 
had been before the people of the whole state for two 
years, and had been repeatedly and warmly discussed 
in every neighborhood and in every family, is it possi- 
ble to suppose that any sane man had not formed any 
opinion in the matter ? After the verdict was rendered, 
Mr. Dorr's counsel offered to prove to the court that 
three or four of the jurors composing the panel which 
convicted him, had expressed their opinions in strong 
terms against the prisoner previous to the trial ; yet the 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 193 

court refused to go into the investigation, since the trial 
was finished, and the verdict was satisfactory to the 
court. 

In the commencement of the trial, the points offered 
for the defence were the following : — 

1. That, in this country, treason is an offence against 
the United States only, and cannot be committed against 
an individual State. 

2. That the 4th section of the act of Rhode Island of 
March, 1842, entitled "An act relating to offences 
against the sovereign power of the state," is unconstitu- 
tional and void, as destructive of the common-law right 
of trial by jury, which was a fundamental part of the 
English constitution at the declaration of independence, 
and has ever since been a fundamental law in Rhode 
Island. 

3. That that act, if constitutional, gives this court no 
jurisdiction to try this indictment in the county of New- 
port — all the overt acts being therein charged as com- 
mitted in the county of Providence. 

4. That the defendant acted justifiably, as governor 
of the state, under a valid constitution rightfully adopt- 
ed, which he was sworn to support. 

5. That the evidence does not support the charge of 
treasonable and criminal intent in the defendant. 

The fourth was that upon which the defendant chiefly 
relied ; but the court decided that proof upon that point 
w^as inadmissible, and ruled the other points against the 
prisoner. The whole trial, from its beginning to its 
termination, lasted nearly four weeks, and the defence 
was ably conducted by Mr. Dorr himself, and his coun- 
sel, George Turner and Samuel Y. Atwell, Esqrs. 

Throughout this trial the court appears to have had 
17 



194 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

only one single object in view, and that was the con- 
viction of Mr. Dorr. They not only refused to allow 
him to introduce testimony to show that he acted under 
the authority of a valid constitution, and without any 
criminal intentions, but they also refused to hear the 
motion argued to the court, and positively decided that 
the jury had nothing to do but find that the prisoner 
had committed the acts charged against him, and could 
not inquire into his motives. Now, we have been 
taught that a wielded intention was necessary to consti- 
tute crime, and that bare acts, without any wrong m- 
tent, were not in themselves criminal ; but the court 
appear to have adopted a different rule for that special 
occasion, because it is easy to show that the same court, 
both before and since that trial, have uniformly held, 
that " actus non facit reum,nisi mens sit rea " should be 
regarded as an established principle in American juris- 
prudence, and have always allowed the accused to 
shoAv, if they could, that, in doing the acts charged 
against them, they did not intend to commit a felony. 
But if the rule adopted in the trial of Mr. Dorr should 
be observed in other criminal prosecutions, no one 
would be safe. The man who should ignorantly and 
innocently pass a spurious bill, believing it to be genu- 
ine, would be liable to be punished as a counterfeiter ; 
and any one who should have the misfortune to kill 
another by accident, or in self-defence, would be liable 
to suffer like the most atrocious murderer. 

AVhilst the motion of the prisoner's counsel to be 
heard by the court was pending, the following dialogue 
took place : — 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 195 

Judge Staples. — I am opposed to a re-argument of this 
question at the present time, in the course of a jury- 
trial. I am willing to hear it re-argued when the court 
are at leisure. 

Judge Haile. — Nor am I disposed to hear a re-argu- 
ment during the trial, when this question has once been 
solemnly settled. At a proper time, it can be heard. 
But it ought not to be heard in the hurry of a jury trial. 

Mr. Dorr. — It falls strangely upon the ear of a man 
in my position, when I hear the judge of a court, in a 
case of this kind, and involving principles of such 
moment, make use of an expression like this — the 
" hurry " of this trial. I must be hurried through to 
judgment, then, without a hearing ; and after convic- 
tion I may be heard ! Is the liberty or the life of a man 
to be disposed of in this way ? If there are any reasons 
why a conviction should not take place, why should 
they not be heard now ? What reparation is it, after 
conviction, to hear the reasons why it was unjust ? This 
is, literally, according to a common observation, hanging 
a man first, and trying him afterwards. 

We are surprised, also, when, in the midst of a trial 
which was to consign an individual to a dungeon for 
life, or pronounce him innocent, a judge of that court, 
sitting under the solemnity of his oath, declares, " I 
have no doubt of the purity of the motives of the defend- 
ant. This is the view I have always ta'ken,^^ and yet 
refuses to allow the defendant to introduce testimony to 
satisfy the jury of the same fact. The court are satis- 
fied that the defendant was not guilty of any criminal 
intentions, but they will not allow him to submit the 
proof of his innocence to the jury. When we consider 
the character of the jury and the extraordinary rulings 
of the court in this extraordinary case, the whole trans- 



196 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

action appears to us like a solemn farce — a mere 
mockery, very similar to hundreds of others which his- 
tory informs us have heretofore taken place in Europe. 
The following is a brief extract from the closing 
address of Mr. Dorr to the jury. He gave a frank and 
manly history of the suffrage party, and of his own 
conduct in connection with it, and made no attempt to 
disguise or deny any thing, but freely and boldly con- 
fessed much more than the government had been able 
to prove. 

Closing RemarJcs of Mr. Dorr. 

After Mr. Turner had concluded his summing up 
upon the evidence, Mr. Dorr addressed the jury for 
three hours in the close of the defence. The following 
is a summary of his remarks : — 

Having addressed to the court all he had to say on 
the subject of treason, (which he had contended was an 
offence against the United States, without admitting 
that any such offence had, in this instance, been com- 
mitted,) he now turned to the jury, and thanked them 
for the patience which they had thus far manifested in 
attending to the proceedings of a trial necessarily pro- 
tracted beyond the usual length. Although the dura- 
tion of the trial had been more than once alluded to by 
one of the honorable court, he desired to assure them 
that he had not intentionally trespassed on their time. 
Much of it had unavoidably been spent in empan- 
elling the jury, which, in a case of this moment, could 
not be hastily done. The defendant had a right by law 
to twenty peremptory challenges ; and a large number 
of those who had been called as jurors had disqualified 
themselves as they were called, by replying to the 
questions proposed to them, that they had formed and 
expressed an opinion upon the charges laid in the in- 



THOMAS WILSON DORll. 197 

clictment, rendering it " necessary to issue new process 
for summoning an additional number. It would also be 
recollected that the defendant had been brought here 
from the county to which he belonged, professedly for 
a more impartial trial, and among those with whom he 
was but little acquainted, and whose qualifications and 
opinions could not be investigated and ascertained with- 
out special inquiry, which it had been sometimes neces- 
sary to make through witnesses, to whom the jurors 
were better known than to himself. The jurors now 
empanelled had severally responded, under their oaths^ 
that they had neither formed nor expressed an opinion 
upon the matters now in issue ; and only through their 
avowed impartiality could the object be obtained for 
which the case had been, in this unusual manner, re- 
moved from the county where the offence was charged 
to have been committed, into another, which had been 
equally pervaded by the political feelings and discus- 
sions which had pervaded the wdiole state in the event- 
ful period of 184:2. 

As so much had been said about foreign notions and 
foreign interference, it was proper for him to remind 
them that he was no stranger in their midst. He had 
not come here from abroad to proclaim new and strange 
words, at war with the original doctrines upon which 
our government was established. He was a native citi- 
zen of Rhode Island ; and a portion of those from 
whom he claimed descent had been among the earlier 
settlers of the state. He was by birth, and still more, 
he trusted, in principle and feeling, a Rhode Island 
man. He did not stand before them as an alien to the 
common inheritance ; and he was ready to meet his op- 
ponents in any attempt they might make to show that 
his efforts had been directed to any other object than 
the reassertion of the ancient liberties of the state, and 
the inherent rights of the people. 

The case now presented to the jury is one of no 
17* 



198 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ordinary importance, and is not lightly to be disposed of 
by a hasty and inconsiderate judgment. It is not a 
matter of dollars and cents, to be decided by an average 
of opinions, but a question affecting the rights and 
freedom, and, to all intents, the life, of the accused. 
The sentence consequent upon conviction is perpetual 
imprisonment, with the attending deprivation of the 
social and political privileges of a man and a citizen — 
an infliction which might induce some minds to prefer 
the more friendly missive of the military tribunal. It is 
the duty of the jury to contemplate the results of their 
verdict. For though they are not directly responsible 
for the law, and sit here not to make, but to administer 
it, they may well be inspired, when they regard the 
personal rights which are now put in issue, with a sol- 
emn caution, with a spirit of sincere and earnest in- 
quiry ; fearful themselves of doing a greater wrong 
than that which is alleged against the individual they 
are called upon to try, and bearing in mind that the 
justice of the law is not revenge, and insists upon no 
doubtful constructions of the acts of the accused. The 
jury must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, not 
only of the facts, but of the legal meaning and purport 
of the facts ; and they are not called upon to offer sac- 
rifices to state policy, or to the dignity of the law. At 
this distance of time from the date of the transactions 
in controversy, a more dispassionate and candid investi- 
gation was to be expected and demanded. 

The offence charged is political — not against indi- 
viduals, but against the state, under a system now no 
longer existing. The defendant necessarily does not 
stand alone. He acted for others. In trying him, you 
try also the fourteen thousand citizens who voted for 
the people's constitution in 1841, and who, if there 
be any guilt in the doctrines of '76, are equally guilty 
with him. Nay, more : you will try the principles of 
the American government and the rights of the Amer- 



THOMAS WILSON DOUR. 199 

lean people ; and you youi-selves will in turn be tried 
for any wounds you may inflict upon American liberty. 
You are not sitting here in one corner of a small state, 
out of the reach of observation ; and be%vare that no 
political bias incline you to do any injustice to the 
defendant, by way of retribution to the party with which 
he is connected ; or how you permit yourselves to defeat 
the ostensible object of a fairer trial in the removal of 
this case ; and let the public have reason to believe 
that it has been more fair than was intended. 

The opening counsel for the state (Bosworth) had 
not been satisfied with the customary epithets which 
the forms of indictment bestow on those who are 
brought within the pale of the courts; but he had 
launched out into the language of vituperation and 
calumny, the not uncommon substitutes for reasoning 
and argument. These ebullitions of malignity do not 
so much indicate the character of the object upon which 
they are poured, as the condition of the source from 
which they spring. Real valor never seeks to magnify 
itself by depreciating the character of those who have 
been overcome by the fortune of the day, and avoids 
all questionable exultation. An honorable mind, in a 
great political controversy like this between the two 
parties of the state, conscious itself of good motives, 
will be slow to impute the revei^se to a fair and open 
political opponent. The coarse remarks of the assistant 
to the prosecutor are left to you, with all the weight to 
which they are entitled. If he be not ashamed of them, 
they may cause some of his friends to be ashamed of 
him. 

Without any proof that it was known at the time to 
the defendant, the aid of the prosecutor has laid much 
stress on the fact that some of his relatives, by law or 
blood, were found in array against him on the 17th of 
May, 1842 ; and it is insinuated, by way of arousing 
the prejudices of the jury^, that the object of the ^ 



defendant was tlie destrnction af hk own relativeB and 
friends. In reply to this false and malicious charge^, 
Mr. Dorr said, that, in periods of excitement,, it might 
bappen^ and sometimes did happen, to those who were 
near, and painfidly to those who are also dear to each 
other, to be widely separated,, even to the conflict of 
war. He stood almost alone in his political opinions 
among- those who were connected with him by blood. 
Without consulting interests,- he had. asked for himself 
what was right, and pursued it. If his views of the 
sovereignty and action of the people were correct, then 
they who placed themselves in opposition to the gov- 
ernment, and attempted to prevent the recovery of the 
public property, whether strangers or relations, did so 
in their own wrong, and might with eqnal propriety be 
said to have been bent upon his own particular destruc- 
tion. He left them to their motives, and claimed re- 
spect for his own. There are obligations of duty from 
which no interest or consanguinity can furnish a dis- 
charge. Mr. Dorr said that he was not aware at the 
time that any person related to him was engaged in the 
defence of the arsenal ; but, from what had fallen from 
one of them, h-e had supposed that he intended to he. 
This person- was not his brother, (now absent from the 
country,) whose name had been forced in here with 3 
very apparent object, and who-, though opposed in poli- 
tics, was entirely capable of appreciating his motives^ 
as he was of making the sariie estimate in return. But^ 
if he bad been aware that all his clan were enlisted 
against the law and constitution of the state^ he should 
not have been deterred from discharging the oath of 
duty which rested upon him. 

The offence char^^ed is somewhat of a va^e nature. 
What is- levying war ? It is not a gathering of men 
merely with arms in their hands. This is the descrip- 
tion of every military training or review. Against 
whom is it levied 1 The state. Who represented the 



THOMAS TVILsON VoliR. 201 

State at the time in Rhode Ishmcl ? Which ^ras the 
true government ? oi-;, more properly^ whicli was the 
government? And, again^ lor what object v/as war 
levied, if at all ? Was it for any lawless^ unjustifiable 
purpose, or in defence of government^ and the most 
Valued rights of the citizen ? Here we have^ in addi- 
tion to the mere question of fact^ Were certain things 
done, or not ? the much larger and more important ques- 
tions of rights, of motives, and intentions. Tlie indict- 
ment charges that the acts laid in it were maliciously 
and traitorously done. To constitute a levying of war, 
as it was held in 4 Cranch, 75, &c., there must be an 
assemblage of persons for the purpose of effecting by 
force a treasonable purpose. Enlistment of men to 
JBerve against government is not sufficient* It is not 
treason, it thias seems, to enlist men for service, even 
against a lawful government ; much less is it to enlist 
them and to bring them into service against an unlawful 
one, existing by usurpation, and contending with force 
against that by which it has been rightfully supplanted. 
You will also bear in mind the admission of the attor» 
ney general, who properly stated, in the outset of the 
case, that if the defendant were the governor of the 
state, he had a right to do what he did. It is thus per- 
fectly evident that the true question essential to a fair 
trial is that of rights and motives. There must be a 
treasonable intent in the levying of war, to constitute 
any treason at all ; not a mere knowledge of what one 
is about, but a deliberate, set purpose and treason of the 
mind ; as in cases of homicide, the act may be murder, 
or manslaughter, or no offence at all, according to cir- 
cumstances and intentions. 

Mr. Dorr said that, in the argument of this case, he 
had the disadvantage of appearing before the jury with- 
out the aid of his principal counsel, Mr. Atwell, upon 
whom he had relied for all the closing arguments, who 
had been overtaken and disabled by a severe illness just 



20i^ THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

before the commencement of the case, when it was too 
late for the defendant to make any preparation. While 
lie desired to acknowledge the zeal, fidelity, ability, and 
industry of the gentleman who assisted him, he could 
not but feel the absence of a counsellor whose legal 
eminence and eloquence, practical experience, and just 
weight as a lawyer in this court, were of so much im- 
portance to his clients. If the defendant have any thing 
to advance in. his own favor, it will be said to come 
from a too partial source, and it weighs nothing. 
What he admits, is taken strongly against him ; and 
what he may say concerning himself, may be, for the 
most part, better said by another. 

The defence, as well as the prosecution, has drawn 
out upon the examination of witnesses a long detail of 
facts. " My great object," said Mr. Dorr, ^' has been to 
have all the facts of the case correctly ascertained ; to 
disabuse it of all the falsehoods and calumnies with 
which it has been invested by the malignant ingenuity 
of political enemies ; and to disprove all the pi-etended 
charges that have been so often repeated against myself, 
my political associates, and the political party with whom 
we have acted. I have aided by questions and by wit- 
nesses in bringing all the facts to light. There are, and 
have been, no secrets in the cause in which I have been 
engaged ; there is nothing, so far as I am aware, that 
might not safely be brought to the light of day. In 
August last, I published, over my own naiue, a state- 
ment of all the transactions now in controversy, from be- 
ginning to end, which was generally circulated in this 
state. It does not differ perceptibly from the present 
testimony. I am willing to put it into the case, as a 
part of it, if the prosecutor do not object. I should 
have been willing to save this investigation by so do« 
ing ; but it was not for the defendant to prescribe the 
mode of proceeding by the prosecutor, who, of course, 
would not have admitted the account of the defendant 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 203 

to be correct, and expected to make a case much more 
favorable to his own side of the question." 

And here, let it be asked of common candor and 
fairness, after listening to the testimony. What has be- 
come of the shameful and groundless imputation con- 
veyed in the fabricated watchword of " beauty and the 
banks ; " of the " foreign desperadoes," who were to 
plunder and burn the city of Providence, and to invade 
the domestic purity of its homes ; of the intervention 
of citizens abroad for any other object than to arrest 
the unjustifiable interference of the president with state 
rights ; of the general appropriation of private prop- 
erty to military uses ; of " the lawless and intemper- 
ate character " of those engaged in the people's cause ; 
of the *' forcible enlistments ; " of the " state scrip ; " 
of the " sword dyed in blood ; " of the " waving of 
the torch and the firing of the gun ; " and the hundred 
other stories and inventions that were got up by polit- 
ical managers and editors for effect, and have had their 
day, and have answered all that was expected of them ? 
They were, no doubt, believed by some, with that cre- 
dulity which alarm creates. And there were others who 
availed themselves of this slight pretence to go over, 
and basely and treacherously abandon the cause of the 
people to the enemy. Henceforth, let the retailers of 
these calumnies, which have been put down in and out 
of court, hold their peace. 

The alleged invasion of private property by the suf- 
frage men at Chepatchet, of which so much had been 
attempted at the time to be made by their opponents, 
was reduced to three instances : a horse borrowed, used, 
and returned ; a cow taken and paid for ; and a few 
boards burned on the hill ! 

The question was asked, whether the village of Che- 
patchet, the day after it was left by the suffrage men, 
was not sacked by the charter troops. But this, we 
were told, had nothing to do with the issue, and could 



204 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

not be gone into. It was irrelevant ! There was a con- 
trast to be disclosed. 

" Of all that was really done by me/' said Mr. Dorr, 
(aside from the fabrications alluded to,) *' or that I had 
a part in doing, I deny nothing. I should disdain to 
make such a denial here or elsewhere, to preserve either 
liberty or life." Defendant said that if any fact had not 
been brought out in the testimony, which the jury were 
desirous of knowing, and wdiich was within his knowl- 
edge, he was ready to state it. 

" My defence before you," said Mr. Dorr, " is a jus- 
tification throughout. What I did I had a right to do ; 
having been duly elected governor of this state under a 
rightfully adopted and valid repubhcan state constitution^, 
which I took an oath to support, and did support to the 
best of the means ^placed within my power.'" 

He then alluded to the extraordinary embarrassment 
in which he was placed in this portion of the defence, 
by the refusal of the court to permit him to make good 
his justification, by exhibiting the proofs of his election 
as governor, and the proofs of the adoption of the peo- 
ple's constitution, under wdiich he had been elected ; 
the votes given upon it having been brought here for 
the express purpose of authenticating it to the jury. 
Nor was he permitted, directly or otherwise, than in in- 
cidental remarks, to maintain, either to the court or jury, 
the right of the people of Rhode Island, upon Amer- 
ican principles, to form and adopt this constitution ; nor 
to argue any other question of law to the court or jury, 
than whether treason be an offence against a state or 
against the United States ; nor to introduce proofs of 
his election, and of the constitution, to repel the charge 
of malicious and traitorous motives ; nor to show by 
authorities that the jury are, in capital cases, the judges 
both of the law and of the fact. 

It was with extreme surprise and regret that he thus 
found himself debarred from his true defence. The 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 205 

facts being thus plain before the jury, — that the de- 
fendant had, on several occasions, attempted to carry 
into effect, by military force, the constitution and gov- 
ernment of the people, and as the chief magistrate of 
the state, — the jury will very naturally ask, How did 
all this come to pass ? By what authority did the 
defendant these things ? The reply to your very nat- 
ural inquiry is a blank. The defendant is most anxious 
to proceed before you, and to establish all these rights ; 
but he is not permitted. He must look to you to take 
care of them. He is in the condition of the mariner 
whose bark has been stripped by an adverse gale, and 
who, in directing his course to the land, can expect to 
reach it only with the aid of a jury mast. 

The votes that were cast for the people's constitution 
are at hand. They who gave them are not far off. The 
acts of the people's legislature, under this constitution, 
can be proved in a moment. These and the unanswer- 
able proofs that popular sovereignty is the just source 
of government, were what it was desired to lay directly 
before you. By the refusal of the court, the defendant 
feels that he has been deprived of -a great right, and that 
justice has been denied him. Whether the doctrines 
on which the republic rests be admitted here or not, 
they are unchangeably the same. The defendant has no 
desire to retract his subscription to them. 

Some ages ago, a natural philosojDher was accused 
and silenced before the inquisition for teaching that the 
earth turned on its axis. As he retired, after his forced 
confession to the contrary, from the presence of the 
officers of the justice of that day, he exclaimed, " Still 
it turns ! " and, in spite of all opposition of false phi- 
losophy, it has turned ever since. There are other 
immutable doctrines, and other honest convictions, 
which cannot be forced out of a man by any human 
process. 

18 



206 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

" The sun will not rise," said Mr. Dorr, " upon any 
recantation by me of tlie truths of '76, or of any one 
of the sound principles of American freedom. 

" The servants of a righteous cause may fail or fall in 
the defence of it. It may go down ; but all the truth 
that it contains is indestructible, and will be treasured 
up by the great mass of our countrymen. 

" If I have erred in this Rhode Island question," 
said Mr. Dorr, " I have the satisfaction of having erred 
with the greatest statesmen and the highest authorities, 
and with the great majority of the people of the United 
States ; and I have the satisfaction *also of reflecting 
that all errors of judgment here will be corrected by the 
great tribunal of public opinion, w^hich assures to all 
ultimate and impartial justice." 

The following is an extract from the closing argu- 
ment of Mr. Turner : — 

After all, gentlemen, who is the prisoner at the bar ? 
and how came he now before you for trial ? Mr. Dorr 
is an educated gentleman, of the most respectable family 
and connections. It is also in evidence that he, per- 
sonally, has stood high in the confidence and esteem of 
his fellow-citizens. He has represented the city of 
Providence in the General Assembly. At the time he 
is charged with having levied war against the state, he 
was the treasurer of the Rhode Island Historical Soci- 
ety, and had in his hands the funds of that institution 
to a large amount. He was a commissioner of the Scit- 
uate Bank, having control of its funds and securities, 
under an appointment of the legislature ; and he was 
president of the school committee of the city of Provi- 
dence. It appears also, that, as administrator or trus- 
tee, he had in his hands large amounts of the property 
of private individuals. During the troubles that fol- 
lowed the affair at the arsenal — the destitution of men. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 207 

arms, ammunition, provisions, and money of tlie Che- 
patchet campaign — during his protracted exile from 
the state — did Governor Dorr embezzle, divert, or 
misapply these funds, or a farthing of them ? No, gen- 
tlemen ; as is shown by the testimony of Mr. Burgess, 
he guarded the whole with the most scrupulous care, 
guided by the highest sense of honor, and placed them, 
undiminished, beyond the reach of the perils which 
environed his own position. With this evidence before 
you, does he carry about with him any of the marks of 
that rowdyism of which we have heard so much ? Have 
not his whole course of life, his sentiments, and his 
actions, been such as to free him from the imputation of 
having, in any thing, been governed by other motives 
than a desire and a zeal for the best interests of his fel- 
low-citizens and of the state ? 

It has been urged by the opening counsel for the 
state, that the prisoner, taking counsel from his fears at 
Chepatchet, ran away from the state. It would have 
been an act, not of wisdom or courage, but of the wild- 
est folly, for Mr. Dorr to have bared his devoted head 
to the whirlwind of popular fury that then swept over 
the state ; or, under legislative martial law, to have 
confided his fate to the tender mercies of a drum head 
court martial. But when the tempest had apparently 
passed over — when the excitement had become some- 
what allayed by time — when martial law no longer fet- 
tered the legal tribunals of the state — he came volun- 
tarily back to the state, and submitted himself to its tri- 
bunals. He came, (when large rewards failed to bring 
him,) because this was his native state — his home — 
and because he expected, and had a right to expect, that 
he should be tried by a jury of his peers of the vici- 
nages amongst whom he had always lived, and for whose 
benefit alone he had acted. He is now in your hands ; 
and I repeat, gentlemen, that, in deciding on his case, 
you may decide upon your own fate and that of your 



S08 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

posterity ; your decision may involve tlie fate of Ameri- 
can freedom — nay, of civil liberty itself 

Finally, gentlemen, if the evidence to which I have 
directed your attention should fail to satisfy your minds 
fully as to the purity of the prisoner's intentions, and 
the absence of treasonable design on his part, and doubts 
remain on the subject, you are bound (and will be so 
instructed by the court) to throw those doubts into the 
scale of the prisoner, and return a verdict of acquittal. 
I now leave him with you, under the conviction that 
the moment you take his life and Kberty into your 
hands, you, at the same time, commit your characters 
through life, and your memories after death, to the 
award and decision of the great tribunal of public opin- 
ion ; and I hope and trust that at its hands you may 
receive that justice which, in behalf of the prisoner, I 
claim at your hands. 

AVhen all the arguments for and against the prisoner 
were finished. Chief Justice Durfee delivered a lengthy 
charge to the jury, after which they retired, and soon 
returned and pronounced their verdict of guilty. 

On the 25th of June, Mr. Dorr was brought into 
court for sentence, and when he was asked by the court 
if he had any thing to say why sentence should not be 
pronounced against him, replied as follows : — 

The court have, through their officer, addressed to 
the defendant the usual question, whether he have any 
thing to say why sentence should not now be pro- 
nounced upon him. I have something to say, which 
shall be brief and intelligible to the court, though it 
must be necessarily unavailing. Without seeking to 
bring myself in controversy with the court, I am de- 
sirous to declare to you the plain truth. 

I am bound, in duty to myself, to express to you my 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. S09 

deep and solemn conviction that I have not received at 
j^our hands the fair trial by an impartial jury, to which, 
hy law and justice, I was entitled. 

The trial has been permitted to take place in a county 
where, to say the least, it was doubtful whether the 
defendant could be tried according to the law of the 
state ; and in a case of doubt like this, he ought to 
have had the benefit of it, especially as the trial here 
must be in a county to which the defendant was a 
stranger, in the midst of his most excited political 
opponents. 

All but one of those freeholders, (one hundred and 
eight in number,) who were summoned here for the 
purpose of selecting a jury to try the defendant, were of 
the opposite party in the state, and were deliberately 
set against the defendant with the feelings of partisan 
hostility. The single democratic juror was set aside for 
having expressed an opinion. Of the drawn jurors, 
sixteen in number, two only were members of the dem- 
ocratic party ; and one of them for cause, and the other 
for alleged cause, was removed. 

Every one of the jury finally selected to try the de- 
fendant was, of course, a political opponent. And even 
as so constituted, the jury were not permitted to have 
the whole case presented to their consideration. They 
were not — as in capital, if not in all criminal, cases 
they are entitled to be — permitted to judge of the law 
and of the fact. The defendant and his counsel were 
not permitted to argue to the jury any matter of law. 

The court refused to hear the law argued to them- 
selves, except on the question whether treason be an 
offence against a state or against the United States. 

^ The court refused to permit the defendant to justify 
himself by proving the constitution, the election, and 
the authority under which he acted ; or to permit him 
to produce the same proofs, in order to repel the charges 
of malicious and traitorous motives made in the indict- 
18* 



SIO THE LIFE AT7D TIMES OF 

ment, and zealously urged against him by tlie counsel 
for the state. 

By the charge of the judge, the jury were instructed 
that the only question which they had to try was, 
whether the defendant intended to do the acts which he 
performed — a question of capacity rather than of mo- 
tives and intentions. 

It is true that the jury were absent more than two 
hours ; but not for deliberation. One of them was 
asked, immediately after the verdict was delivered and 
the jury was discharged, whether they had been de- 
tained by any disagreement. He replied, " We had 
nothing to do. The court had made every thing plain 
for us." 

On hearing a bill of exceptions to the verdict thus 
rendered, the court promptly overruled all the points 
of law. 

The court also denied to the defendant an oppor- 
tunity of showing to them that three of the jurors, be- 
fore they were empanelled, manifested strong feelings, 
and had made use of vindictive and hostile expressions- 
against him personally, after the defendant had estab- 
lished by his affidavit the fact that he was not informed 
of this hostility of feeling and expression before they 
were empanelled, and, with regard to two of them, 
before the verdict was rendered. The defendant ex- 
pected to prove, by twelve witnesses, that one of these- 
jurors had expressed a wish to have the defendant put 
to death, and had declared, shortly after the verdict, to 
a person inquiring the result, that " he had convicted 
the defendant, and that this was what he intended to 
do ; '■* that another juror had also declared that the de- 
fendant ought to be executed ; and that the third had 
frequently made the same declaration, with a wish that 
he might be permitted to do the work of an executioner, 
or to shoot him as he would a serpent^ and put him to 
death. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 211 

Nor would the court permit the defendant to show, 
by proofs, which he declared on oath to have been un- 
known to him at the time of the empanelling of the 
jury, that an array of twelve men, summoned on venire 
by a deputy sheriff, were (or a considerable part of 
them at least) the same persons who had been selected 
by an attorney of this court, who assisted the officer in 
the service of the summons. 

These and other matters, which I will not stop to 
enumerate, show that this trial, which has been carried 
through the forms of law, was destitute of the reality of 
justice, and was but a ceremony preceding conviction. 
That there is any precedent for it, in the most acri- 
monious period of the most excited party times in this 
country, I am not aware from any examination or recol- 
lection of its political history. 

In a trial of an alleged political offence, involving the 
feehngs of the whole community, and growing out of a 
condition of affairs which placed the whole people of 
the state on one side or the other of an exasperated 
controversy, the strictest and most sacred impartiality 
should have been observed in the most careful investi- 
gation both of law and fact by the jury, and in all 
the decisions and directions of the court. In what case 
should they have been more distrustful of the political 
bias of their own minds, more careful in all their dehb- 
erations, more earnest in the invocation of a strength 
above their own, that they might not only appear to be 
just, but do justice in a manner so above all suspicion, 
that the defendant, and all those with whom he is asso- 
ciated, might be satisfied that he had had his day in 
court, and that every requisition of the law had been 
observed and fulfilled. In how different a spirit were 
the proceedings of this trial conducted ! And with 
what emotions must the defendant have listened to the 
declaration of one of your honors, that " in the hurry 
of this trial '* they could not attend to the questions of 



21S THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

law, wliicli he so earnestly pressed upon their imme- 
diate consideration, as vitally important to the righteous 
determination of his case I 

The icsult of this trial, which your sentence is about 
to proclaim,, is the perpetual imprisonment of the de- 
fendant, and hi& seclusion from the face of society, and 
from all communication with his fellow-men. 

Is it too much to say that the object of his political 
opponents is the gratification of an insatiable spirit of 
revenge, rather than the attainment of legal justice t 
They are also bent upon his political destruction, which 
results from the sentence of the court, in the deprivation 
of his political and civil rights. They aim also at a 
social annihilation, by his commitment to that tomb of 
the living, from which, in ordinary cases, those who 
emerge are looked upon as marked and doomed men, 
to be excluded from the reputable walks of life. But 
there my opponents and persecutors are destined to 
disappointment. The court may, through the conse- 
quences of their sentence, abridge the term of his exist- 
ence here ; they can annihilate his political rights ; but 
more than this they cannot accomplish. The honest 
judgment of his friends and fellow-citizens, resting upon 
the truth of his cause, and faithful to the dictates of 
humanity and justice, will not so much regard the place 
to which he is consigned, as the causes which have led 
to his incarceration within its walls. 

Better men have been worse treated than I have 
been, though not often in a better cause. In the service 
of that cause I have no right to complain that I am 
called upon to suffer hardships, whatever may be the 
estimate of the injustice which inflicts them. 

All these proceedings will be reconsidered by that 
ultimate tribunal of public opinion, whose righteous de- 
cision will reverse all the wrongs which may be now 
committed, and place that estimate upon niy actions to 
which they may be faiidy entitled. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. S13 

The process of tins court does not reach the man 
within. The court cannot shake the convictions of the 
mind, nor the fixed purpose which is sustained by in- 
tegrity of heart. 

Ckiiming no exemptions from the infirmities which 
beset us all, and which may attend us in the prosecu- 
tion of the most important enterprises, and, at the same 
time, conscious of the rectitude of my intentions, and 
of having acted from good motives in an attempt to 
promote the equality, and to establish the just freedom 
and interest of my fellow-citizens, I can regard with 
equanimity this last infliction of the court ; nor would 
I, even at this extremity of the law, in view of the 
opinions which you entertain, and of the sentiments 
by which you are animated, exchange the place of a 
prisoner at the bar for a seat by your side upon the 
bench. 

The sentence which you will pronounce, to the ex- 
tent of the power and influence which this court can 
exert, is a condemnation of the doctrines of '76, and a 
reversal of the great principles which sustain and give 
vitality to our democratic republic, and which are re- 
garded by the great body of our fellow-citizens as a 
portion of the birthright of a free people. 

From this sentence of the court I appeal to the people 
of our state and of our country. They shall decide be- 
tween us. I commit myself, without distrust, to their 
final award. I have nothing more to say. 

When Mr. Dorr had finished his remarks, Chief Jus- 
tice Durfee arose, and pronounced his sentence in the 
following words : — 

Listen, Thomas Wilson J}orr, to the sentence of 
the court ; which is, that the said Thomas TV. Dorr be 
imjprisoned in the state prison at Providence, in the 



214 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

county of Providence, for the term of his natural 
life, and there ke^t at hard labor in separate confine- 
ment. ^ 

The court liad now gone to the extent of their prov- 
ince, and hurled their last bolt against their defenceless 
victim; and on the 27th of June, 1844, just two years 
after Mr. Dorr dismissed his forces at Chepatchet, he 
was removed to the state prison in Providence, and 
incarcerated in a cell, where, according to the sentence 
of the court, he was to remain during his natural life. 

So far as we are acquainted with the history of crim- 
inal treason, it has been contrived and conducted with 
more or less secrecy — it has consisted of clandestine 
attempts to surprise and overthrow the government by 
force. Mr. Dorr's case was the very reverse of this. 
Every thing had been done in the most public manner 
possible, and the whole proceedings consisted of a series 
of steps which followed each other at intervals which 
gave all parties ample time to consider them. If Mr. 
Dorr was guilty of the highest crime known to any law 
because he labored to sustain a democratic government 
which the people had ordained, then hundreds of others 
were guilty of the same crime ; and why should he 
be made a scapegoat for the sins of the whole party ? 
Why pursue him alone with such unrelenting hostility, 
when there were so many others who had with him ac- 
tually taken up arms ? 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 215 



CHAPTEE XIV. 



REFLECTIONS. 



The history of treason shows that it has been chiefly 
confined to arbitrary and unjust governments, and that 
far the largest number of those who have suffered for 
that crime have been good men, who sought to relieve 
their own people from the oppressive measures of their 
rulers. If Great Britain had succeeded in overcomina: 
the rebellion, as she called it, in her American colonies, 
in 1776, then George Washington and Nathaniel Greene, 
with all their compatriots, would have been held guilty 
of treason. The essential characteristics of this crime 
are said to consist in levying war against the sovereign 
power of the state to which the offender owes allegi- 
ance. In a monarchical government the sovereign power 
is supposed to belong to a single individual. In Russia 
the will of the czar is the sovereign power ; therefore 
to resist that will is treason, because that people suppose 
that by divine appointment the right to rule runs forever 
in the blood of a certain family ; and similar sentiments 
prevail in all countries governed by hereditary mon- 
archs. The government of Great Britain, from which 
we have obtained many of our ideas of jurisprudence, 
is a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy ; 



216 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

but the supreme or highest power is supposed to be 
vested forever in the crown. Therefore treason in 
Great Britain does not consist in levying war against 
Parliament, or any other special department of the gov- 
ernment, but in levying war against the crown itself. 
But our government is the very reverse of monarchy ; 
in theory it is a democracy. We hold that in the 
United States absolute sovereignty is vested in the peo- 
ple, and in them alone ; and that state constitutions are 
the acts of the people in their absolute sovereign capaci- 
ty, and at all times under their immediate control ; and 
if this theory of our government be correct, then the 
will of the people is the sovereign power, and it fol- 
lows, of course, that to levy war against that declared 
will is virtual if not legal treason. The American gov- 
ernments are supposed to exist by the consent of a ma- 
jority of the people until the contrary is shown ; but 
when that majority freely and publicly declare their 
dissent to it, and withdraw their support from it, then 
it cannot be treason to levy war against such minority 
government ; but to levy war against the known and 
expressed will of a decided majority of the people can 
be nothing better than treason. It is highly important 
that every American citizen should fully understand the 
genius and principles of his own government, and 
know for a certainty where the sovereign power is 
vested. Is the question of political sovereignty yet to 
to be settled in this country ? Have not the people of 
the United States yet ascertained where the supreme 
power may ultimately be found ? Then we say that it 
is high time that the inquiry was made, and the ques- 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 217 

tion fully and permanently settled. If it is not in the 
whole people, then all our political teachings have been 
felse. If it is not, as we have supposed, in the people 
at large, then we are no better off than the inhabitants 
of the old countries, and our democracy is an unmean- 
ing term. When, hereafter, an American shall go 
abroad to some foreign country, and boast of the pop- 
ular sovereignty of his own, may not the subjects of 
despotism, in derision and reproach, point him to Rhode 
Island ? And what reply can he make to such a wither- 
ing rebuke ? The charter party in Rhode Island gained 
their ascendency, not by the free will of the people, but 
by force alone. Now, if the whole people had been left 
free from coercion at home, and threats and force from 
abroad, the people's government, with Mr. Dorr at its 
head, would doubtlessly have gone quietly into opera- 
tion ; and if any of the supporters of the exploded 
charter government had rebelled and taken up arms 
against the government which the sovereign people had 
set up, such insurgents might, with much more justice, 
have been brought to trial for treason before a court 
appointed by Mr. Dorr and his legislature. We have 
only to put the physical weight into the other scale, and 
the judicial power passes over to the other side ; and if 
such had been the case, we have every reason to believe 
that the rights of men would have been better guarded 
and more respected, and justice better administered. 

If we take a plain, common-sense view of the con- 
duct of the parties in the Rhode Island controversy, 
we cannot fail to observe a striking contrast between 
them. Mr. Dorr and his party paid a scrupulous regard 
19 



218 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

to private rights, and no individual was robbed or 
injured by his order; and when it was ascertained that 
a single beast had been killed by his men, full satisfac- 
tion was immediately made to the owner ; and it has 
been shown by the testimony of Jedediah Sprague that 
when Mr. Dorr and his men quartered at his house in 
Chepatchet, at the request of Mr. Dorr Mr. Sprague 
closed his bar, and dealt out no Hquor during their stay 
with him. But the conduct of the party professedly 
governed by " law and order " exhibits a striking con- 
trast with this. They paid little or no respect to either 
person or property ; but in open violation of law, and 
without shame or remorse, they assaulted, abused, 
robbed, and imprisoned all such as they chose. Like 
an army of crusaders to whom full indulgence had been 
granted, they seemed to feel themselves under no moral 
restraint, but gave full scope to all their appetites and 
passions, as the testimony of Mr. Sprague and other 
innkeepers will show. 

We are credibly informed that during a single night, 
on the 24th of June, 1842, the keeper of a public house 
in the town of Bristol, by official direction, furnished 
the " law and order " forces with victuals, liquor, ci- 
gars, &c., to the full amount of one thousand dollars, 
all of which, with sundry other large bills of a similar 
kind, were paid by the state ; but we believe that no 
compensation has ever been made to the hundreds of 
individuals who were robbed and despoiled of their 
property by the marauding clans of law and order. 
The government appear to have been ever ready to as- 
sume and justify every deed perpetrated under their 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 219 

own banner, and to extend their protecting batoon to 
every desperado who claimed the immunities of a royal 
charter ; and at last, amid all the accumulation of enor- 
mities, whilst the whole party staggered beneath the 
weight of their own guilt, their hands still reeking 
with the blood of an innocent victim, as if one more 
damning deed was requii'ed to cap the frightful climax, 
Mr. Dorr was seized and plunged into a dungeon for 
life. The overthrow of the people's government in 
Rhode Island by force, and the condemnation and 
imprisonment of Mr. Dorr, are acts that will ever 
stand condemned by all the friends of free government 
throughout the world. No great principle is better 
settled now than that the people themselves are above 
all constitutions, and may, in their own time and in 
their own way, make new constitutions, or abolish old 
ones. But we are asked. Why agitate the subject 
anew ? Why call up again the angry passions which 
have been hushed into repose ? To this we answer. 
The tendency of all free governments is towards aris- 
tocracy and monarchy. This is shown by all history, 
and is continually witnessed in the workings of our 
own governments. Men clothed with authority are 
extremely prone to overstep their constitutional limits, 
and to assume powers with which their constituents 
never intended to invest them. Wealth and profes- 
sional influence are always inclined to turn away from 
the people at large, and unite with honor and power 
however acquired. Ecclesiastical influence has almost 
always chosen to ally itself with political power. These 
facts remind us of the imperious necessity of keeping 



220 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the fundamental principles of our political institutions 
constantly before the public ; and we are more than ever 
impressed with the truth of the maxim, that " eternal 
vigilance is the price of liberty." It was because this 
great principle had been in a manner forgotten in Rhode 
Island, and by the national executive, that the strong 
arm of power was allowed to triumph over the people, 
and crush their institutions in the dust. In times of 
political quiet, when the government runs its smooth, 
monotonous course for many years, the people are ex- 
tremely liable to become supine and forgetful of the 
pillars upon which their civil and political institutions 
rest; and if the time shall ever come in the United 
States when these fundamental principles shall be dis- 
regarded or surrendered, this will no longer be a free 
government, but will belong to the same class of oli- 
garchies with which the old world is filled. Therefore 
it can never be amiss or out of season to agitate the 
subject, and keep it constantly before the people. It 
should form an essential part of the education of our 
youth, and be made the basis of all our political creeds. 
One generation should teach it to another, and they 
again to theirs, so that this life blood of political liberty 
may ever continue to circulate through all the Amer- 
ican institutions. This would keep the legislative pow- 
ers always in check, and make them careful to learn 
and do the will of the people ; for upon that, and that 
alone, depend the safety and permanency of our free 
institutions. The people are not likely to rebel against 
themselves ; and wherever treason has been supposed to 
be committed under an established government, it has 



THOMAS WILSON DORK. ^21 

been a sure indication of some great wrong in the rul- 
ing power. The freest governments are always safe 
and stable when they exist by the known and voluntary 
consent of the great body of the people, and no gov- 
ernment is just, or can be long maintained, without force, 
v/hen such consent is withheld. 

' This subject has been so thoroughly investigated, and 
its principles so well settled now, that it would not be 
advisable for any other state or any other chief magis- 
trate to attempt to try the experiment over again. If 
any should, they might find themselves overwhelmed 
in a resistless tide of public opinion, before which their 
combined forces would be no more than chaff before a 
driving gale. 

In a little more than half a century from the time 
when the American governments were founded upon 
the principle of popular sovereignty, as set forth in the 
Declaration of Independence, that great truth which 
forms the palladium of all our political institutions was 
denied and set at nought in a sovereign state, and its 
everlasting truths declared to be nothing but " rhe- 
torical flourishes " and " glittering generaUties," of no 
lasting import. And all this transpired in a state which 
v/as the foremost of all the sisterhood in establishing 
both religious and political liberty, and most careful to 
guard her free institutions against the encroachments of 
arbitrary power ; a state which according to her abil- 
ity, did more than any other to estabhsh and maintain 
the true principles of American democracy ; a state 
illustrious alike for her heroes and her statesmen. But 
alas ! the fascinations of power at length ripened into 
19* 



^22 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 

tyranny, and in an unfortunate hour freedom was over- 
thrown ! If there be one thing in the history of the 
Rhode Island controversy more humihating than an- 
other, it is the extraordinary obsequious sycophancy of a 
large class of citizens. They yielded too readily to the 
siren pleadings of the parasites of power, or shrank 
ingloriously from the threats of tyrants. 

In times of religious or political quiet, men live and 
die without exhibiting to the world their mental or 
moral powers, or even knowing them themselves. But 
when society becomes unsettled, . and its elements 
thrown into commotion, and shaken and tossed as with 
a mighty tempest, it requires a higher degree of moral 
integrity than falls to the lot of the mass of mankind to 
withstand the fury of opposing forces ; and when great 
truths are to be set up or sustained, those who take the 
lead in such movements must possess a degree of firm- 
ness and decision unknown to mankind in general. 
Such have been the lights of the world in all religious, 
political, and social reformations ; their iron wills were 
incapable of bending ; to them fear was unknown ; and 
regardless of all consequences to themselves, they have 
ever struggled with invincible perseverance in the paths 
which their consciences pointed out. Whilst thousands 
upon thousands have fallen out by the way, a few 
master spirits have reached the destined goal. Such 
men may be overcome or cast down by the power of 
tyrants, but the truths which they sought to establish, 
though '^crushed to earth, will rise again." When 
such men fall, their enemies are confounded, the pil- 
lars of bigotrv and error are shaken, light flashes upon 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 223 

the paths of truth and reason, and the final triumph of 
the great principles for which they contended is shad- 
owed forth. And when all the petty tyrants who tri- 
umphed over Mr. Dorr shall be wholly forgotten, his 
name shall occupy a conspicuous place in the temple of 
political liberty, never to be effaced or destroyed until 
the whole structure falls. When we review the nu- 
merous tragical scenes enacted in Rhode Island in that 
memorable controversy, we can hardly believe them 
ever to have been realities ; they look more like the 
distorted visions of a morbid imagination than sober 
truths ; they stand without a parallel in the United 
States, and it is confidently hoped they will ever remain 
so. Nor is there much danger that similar proceedings 
will ever transpire in any other state. Can it be sup- 
posed that if two thirds of the people of any one of 
the large states had, in a regular manner, deliberately 
formed and adopted a democratic constitution, the men- 
aces of any national executive would have frightened 
them from their purpose ? or that the friends of such a 
constitution could have been subdued by a petty tyranny 
under the pretext of martial law ? If it had been New 
York, Pennsylvania, or Ohio, instead of the small State 
of Rhode Island, neither John Tyler nor any other 
chief magistrate would have rashly dashed his military 
forces against the people. 



2M THB Mt'M AXS> I'lUm <if' 



OHAFTEH XV, 

liESOLUTIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE- COJ^'^ 
CERNING MR. DORR,, 

Resolutions from the Legislature of New Hampshire^ 
communicated to the Senate of the General Assembly 
of Rhode Island, Jan. 8, 1845. 

Whereas it is pi'ovided by the sixth article of the' 
amendments of the constitution of the United States^ 
*^That in all crinrinal proseciftioRS the accused shaB 
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an im- 
partial jury of the state and district wherein the crime- 
shall have been committed, — -which district shall have? 
been previously ascertained by law ; and to be informed, 
of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be con- 
fronted with the witnesses against him ; to- hare com- 
pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in hi& faTor^ and 
to have the assistance af counsel for his defence ;•" — 

And whereas a citizen of one of the states of this 
republic (Thomas Wilson Dorr) has, by the constituted!, 
authorities of that state, been charged with the crime 
of treason, arraigned before its court, pronounced 
guilty of the offence charged^ and by that court ^n- 
tenced to bard labor in the state prison during hi& 
natural life ; — 

And whereasy in the opinion of this legislature^ all 
the substantial forms of justice, required to be observed 
in criminal cases, were during his trial for the offence 
disregarded; his rights grossly violated and denied to 



THOMAS WILSOJ? DORK, 2^5 

liim by his removal for trial from the vicinage in which 
the crime was alleged to have been committed ; by the 
selection of a packed jury^ all of whom were his poUt- 
ical enemies ) and by the refusal^ on the part of the' 
judges of the court before whom he was tried, to permit, 
him, by the strongest evidence which it was possible to 
offer^ to establish his innocence^ and to prove that the 
acts for which he was charged with the crime of treason 
were only in obedience to the constitution of the state, 
whose chief magistrate he was, and as such was bound 
to support that constitution which, the people of Rhode 
Island had adopted ; and which evidence of adoption 
lie offered to lay before the court, by presenting to them 
the votes of the people themselves, on which votes 
were the names of the voters, so that if fraud or illegal 
voting had been resorted to in the adoption of the con- 
stitution, the court would be enabled to detect the same 
- — all of which evidence was rejected, and the decision 
of his guilt or innocence, in which was involved the 
great and important question of the right of the people 
to establish a constitution or form of government suited 
to their own wants and convenience, was referred to a 
jury packed for the occasion, and three of them, he 
offered to prove to the court, had, in violation of their 
oath, prejudged his case : — » 

Therefore, Resolved by the Senate and House of 
Rejiresentatives in General Court convened, That in the 
person of Thomas Wilson Dorr, now confined in the 
state prison of Rhode Island, the authorities of that 
state have trampled upon the constitution of the United 
States, by denying to him the right to be tried by an 
impartial jury, in the vicinage in which the crime was 
alleged to have been committed, and by refusing to him 
the' right of introducing testimony tending to establish 
his innocence of the offence charged ; and that it is the 
duty of Congress to restore to the said Thomas Wilson 
Dorr those sacred rights guaranteed to him by the cou- 



^26 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

stitution, as a man and a citizen of this republic ; and 
to wipe out the deep and damning stain stamped upon 
the national escutcheon by the mock trial and condem- 
nation of this individual, guilty of no offence but that 
of maintaining the sovereignty of the people, and of 
obeying their sovereign wilL 

And whereas it is provided by the eighth article of 
the amendments to the constitution of the United States, 
that *^ excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in- 
flicted," and %vhereas the punishment imposed upon the 
said Thomas Wilson Dorr is, in the opinion of this legis- 
lature, both " cruel and unusual," — unusual, as being, 
it is believed, the first offence of a strictly political 
character which has been punished by a state since the 
declaration of American independence — unusual when 
the nature of the offence is considered in connection 
with the plain principles upon which the government 
of the United States is founded, the principle of the 
sovereignty of the people ; and whereas it is the man- 
ifest duty of the general government to protect and 
guard the rights of individuals so far as those rights are 
guaranteed by the constitution, — therefore Resolved, 
That the imprisonment of Thomas Wilson Dorr by the 
authorities of Rhode Island presents to the Congress of 
the United States a case of ^^ cruel and unusual punish- 
ment " inflicted upon that individual for exercising, in 
a constitutional manner, the duties imposed upon him 
as chief magistrate of that state, to which office he was 
duly elected under a constitution adopted by a large 
majority of its citizens, and as such calls loudly upon 
the general government to extend to him, the said 
Thomas Wilson Dorr, that protection against tyranny 
and oppression which the government of these United 
States are bound in good faith to extend to all and 
every one of its citizens. 

Resolved, That while we disclaim all right to inter- 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. S27 

ference with the internal police and regulations of our 
sister states, leaving to them the full exercise of sover- 
eign power, (so far as it has not been delegated to the 
United States,) yet we cannot but protest against the 
wanton exercise of this power by the State of Rhode 
Island, in the case of Thomas Wilson Dorr, who, as a 
citizen of the United States, has rights which should be 
regarded as sacred, and which the general government 
is bound to maintain and defend. 

Resolved, That we regard the doctrine of the sover- 
eignty of the people as of vital importance to the stabil- 
ity and permanency of our republic, and that the people 
of Rhode Island, in common with the people of the 
other states composing this Union, possess this right — 
that when they speak, " Full faith and credit shall be 
given in each state to their 'public acts,^ " one of which 
was the establishment of a constitution, adopted by a 
majority of her people, and another the election of offi- 
cers under that constitution, of which Thomas Wilson 
Dorr was the chief magistrate, and as such should have 
been recognized by the several states composing this 
Union, and by the United States government itself. 

Resolved, That our senators and representatives in 
Congress be requested to lay this preamble and resolu- 
tions before both Houses of Congress, and that the sec- 
retary of state be directed to furnish each of them with 
a copy of the same, and also to furnish a copy to the 
governors of the several states and territories. 

The resolutions were signed by Governor Steele, 
" approved — heartily approved." 

Maine legislative Resolutions in Relation to the Impris- 
onment of Thomas Wilson Dorr. 

Whereas, we hold that " all men are born equally 
free and ii) dependent, have certain natural and inalien- 



^^8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

able rights^ among which are those of enjoying and 
defending life and liberty, acquiring;, possessing, and 
protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining 
safety and happiness ', " that the people are the source 
of all legitimate power ; that all governments derive 
their just powers from the consent of the governed ; 
and in the people resides full and plenary power to in- 
stitute government, " to alter, reform, or totally change 
the same, whenever their safety and happiness require 
it ; " and whereas the constitution of the United States 
guarantees to every state in this Union " a republican 
form of government," and provides that ^' in all crimi- 
nal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the 
state and district wherein the crime shall have been 
committed ; " and that " no person shall be deprived of 
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," 
' — therefore. 

Resolved, That the sovereign power of a state is inhe- 
rent in the people, and all free governments are founded 
on their authority and instituted for their benefit ; and 
that no man or set of men is entitled to supreme or 
exclusive privileges in the institution and support of 
government. 

Resolved, That the sovereign power of the State of 
Khode Island is inherent in the people thereof, and to 
them belongs the right to institute government, to 
change or abolish the same, as they may deem wise and 
proper for their safety and happiness. 

Resolved, That the constitution of Rhode Island^ 
adopted by the people in December, eighteen hundred 
and forty one, is republican in its form, and was right- 
fully adopted by a majority of the people thereof, and 
thereby became the permanent law of the state, and as 
such was entitled to the guarantee of the United States. 

Resolved, That the interference of John Tyler, Presi- 
dent of the United States, in behalf of the late charter 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 229 

government of Rhode Island, with the military power 
of the Union, by which the popular government of that 
state, under the constitution adopted in December, 
eighteen hundred and forty-one, was suppressed, was 
unauthorized by the constitution and laws of the United 
States, in derogation of both a dangerous usurpation of 
power and a wanton violation of the rights of the peo- 
ple of Rhode Island. 

Resolved, That in the recent popular movement in 
the State of Rhode Island, we recognize in the person 
of Thomas Wilson Dorr a bold and uncompromising 
champion of the great American doctrines of the revo- 
lution, the able and stern defender of popular sover- 
eignty, a noble son of a degenerate state, now the 
victim of vindictively corrupt judges, and a packed and 
partial jury. 

Resolved, That the State of Maine, by her legislature, 
hereby enters her solemn protest against the imprison- 
ment of Thomas W. Dorr in the state prison in the 
State of Rhode Island, by the authorities thereof, as 
unjust, illegal, malignant, and tyrannical, unbecoming 
the age in which we live, and deserving the marked 
disapprobation of the American people ; and in the opin- 
ion of this legislature it is the imperative duty of the 
general government to adopt any and all legal and con- 
stitutional measures for his immediate release. 

Mesohed, That the governor be requested to cause a 
copy of these resolves to be transmitted to the presi- 
dent of the United States, to the governors of the sev- 
eral states, and to each of our senators and representa- 
tives in Congress. (Approved April 4, 1845.) 
20 



S30 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XVI. 

REPORT OF A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE- 
SENTATIVES IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED 
STATES. ALSO, SPEECH OF HON. MR. ALLEN, OF 
OHIO. 

At the January session of the Rhode Island legisla- 
ture, in 1844, a portion of the members of both Houses, 
twenty-six in number, signed and forwarded a memo- 
rial to Congress, setting forth the political grievances to 
which the people of that state had been subjected, and 
requesting the House of Representatives to " institute 
an inquiry into the facts " set forth in that memorial. 
That memorial, with other documents, was referred to 
a select committee of the House of Representatives, 
consisting of the following gentlemen, viz.: Messrs. 
Burke, Rathbun, Causin, McClernand, and Preston, 
who were empowered to send for persons and papers. 
They commenced their investigation on the 29th of 
February, 1844, and continued it until the 3d day of 
June following. In the commencement of their pro- 
ceedings, they caused notice to be given to the gov- 
ernor of the State of Rhode Island, and also to the 
memorialists, of their appointment, and of the course 
which they intended to pursue in the investigation, in 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 231 

order that either party might appear, if they chose, 
and be heard. The committee also passed the fol- 
lowing resolution : — 

Resolved, That the president of the United States be 
requested to lay before this House the authority, and 
true copies of all requests and applications, upon which 
he deemed it his duty to interfere with the naval and 
military forces of the United States, on the occasion of 
the recent attempt of the people of Rhode Island to 
establish a free constitution in the place of the old 
charter government of that state ; also, copies of the 
instructions to, and statements of, the charter commis- 
sioners, sent to him by the then existing authorities of 
the State of Rhode Island ; also, copies of the corre- 
spondence between the executive of the United States 
and the charter government of the State of Rhode 
Island, and all the papers and documents connected 
with the same ; also, copies of the correspondence, if 
any, between the heads of departments and said charter 
government, or any person or persons connected with 
said government, and of any accompanying papers and 
documents ; also, copies of all orders issued by the 
executive of the United States, or any of the de- 
partments, to military officers, for the movement or 
employment of troops to or in Rhode Island ; also, 
copies of all orders to naval officers to prepare steam or 
other vessels of the United States for service in the 
waters of Rhode Island ; also, copies of all orders to 
the officers of revenue cutters for the same service ; also, 
copies of any instructions borne by the secretary of war 
to Rhode Island, on his visit in 1842 to review the 
troops of the charter government ; also, copies of any 
order or orders to any officer or officers of the army or 
navy, to report themselves to the charter government ; 
and that he be further requested to lay before this 
House copies of any other paper or document in the 



^o2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

possession of the executive, connected with this sub- 
ject, not above specially enumerated. 

A petition signed by General Samuel Milroy and a 
large number of the citizens of the State of Indiana, 
praying Congress to inquire into alleged abuses prac- 
tised by the charter party of the State of Rhode Island, 
was also referred to the same committee. 

The committee also notified the Rhode Island repre- 
sentatives in Congress to appear before them, and be 
heard if they thought proper. After these preliminary 
steps had been taken, the committee proceeded to sum- 
mon witnesses and provide for taking depositions, and 
no deposition was taken excej)t when both parties had 
been notified of the caption, and a full opportunity was 
given all concerned to appear and be heard. And after 
collecting a large amount of documentary and parol 
testimony, and carefully examining anM considering the 
whole subject in all its bearings, the committee pro- 
ceeded to make a long and very able report. Its great 
length prevents us from giving it in full. The follow- 
ing is an extract from that report : — 

It is also worthy of remark that, in the difficulties 
which occurred in Rhode Island, during the attempt to 
establish the people's constitution, the committee have 
not yet learned that a single life was taken, or private 
property violated, by the suffrage party or any indi- 
vidual attached to it. This fact speaks volumes in favor 
of the moderation of its course, and shows conclu- 
sively that none of its members could have been actu- 
ated by criminal intentions. 

It is also due to truth to remark, that the committee 
have reason to believe that the nineteen cases described 



THOMAS WILSON BOUR. 233 

above fall very for short of the whole number of pros- 
ecutions for similar offences. It is a fact notorious to 
the country, that several others have been indicted for 
treason, among whom is the Hon. Dutee J. Pearce, of 
Newport, formerly a distinguished member of Congress 
from the State of Rhode Island, who was a member of 
the House of Representatives under the people's consti- 
tution. 

Another case is that of Thomas W. Dorr, who was 
elected to the office of governor under the people's 
constitution, and who has recently been tried for the 
crime of treason. He is known personally to one of 
the members of this committee to be a gentleman of 
high character, and very superior talents and accom- 
plishments — a man whose good name would never 
intentionally be stained with the perpetration of crime. 
His native state has seldom produced a man favored 
with brighter faculties, or adorned with purer virtues. 
What could such a man care about the honor of being 
at the head of the government of Rhode Island, except 
it was to assert and vindicate what he believed to be a 
great principle of right, on which he believed the liber- 
ties of the people depended ? He is connected by re- 
lationship with the most respectable and wealthy families 
belonging to the ruling party of the state ; he has 
talents of a high order, and an education finished and 
complete. And if he had continued to support the in- 
terests of the charter government, his pathway to the 
highest honors within its gift was open and unimpeded, 
and his success not to be doubted. For what could 
such a man abandon such prospects, for the purpose of 
leading the people in a hazardous and perilous enter- 
prise, if it were not to assert and vindicate a great 
principle ? Could he be charged with a desire for the 
honors and emoluments of office ? The office of gov- 
ernor of Rhode Island, with its salary of four hundred 
dollars, could hardly be a prize sufficiently dazzling to 
20* 



234 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

win snc"h a man fi*om his high hopes and brilliant prom- 
ises. Could it be love of plunder ? His enemies have 
admitted that, aside from his political theories, he was 
honest. Who, then, will for a moment suppose that 
Thomas Wilson Dorr ever contemplated the crime of 
treason, which implies a wicked and corrupt attempt to 
overthrow a government admitted to be rightfully and 
legitimately existing? What other obvious intention 
could he have, but to assert and vindicate the great 
principle of popular sovereignty, involved in the con- 
test between the two parties in Rhode Island ? Yet 
this man has been convicted of treason by a jury of 
twelve men, (every one of whom was his political oppo- 
meni^) and is now liable to be sentenced to imprisonment 
for life for that offence. Does justice, or the security of 
the State of Rhode Island, require such severity of 
punishment? Yet the committee depi'ecate no mercy 
for Governor Dorr. The time will come when his 
countrymen will appreciate the great principle for which 
he now suffers the vengeance of his persecutors, and do 
justice to his acts and his motives. The same sentence 
will also remove from his shoulders, to those of his 
pursuers, the load of stigma which they have attempted 
to cast upon him. After the lapse of seventy years 
from the revolution, the cause of liberty may require 
the blood of some martyrs, even in America ; but from 
it, like armed men from the dragon's teeth, will spring 
np myriads of brave and fearless asserters of the rights 
of the people, by whose courage and efforts the princi- 
ples of the Declaration of Independence may be rein- 
stated in our institutions of government. 

Miscellaneous Acts of Outrage and Oppression hy Persons 
acting under the Authority of the Charter Government. 

Under the general authority conferred upon the com- 
mittee, they caused a commission to be issued to the Hon, 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. SJ^D 

Benjamin F. Hallett, of Boston, to take the testimony 
of certain witnesses therein named, in order to prove 
specific acts of outrage and violence, by which the peo- 
ple of Rhode Island were intimidated, and their consti- 
tution suppressed.* A large mass of proof has been 
obtained by the commissioner, in pursuance of the au- 
thority delegated to him by the committee, an abstract 
of which follows : — 

1. The first matters inquired into by the commis- 
sioner were the outrages of the charter troops in Paw- 
tucket, and the m.urder of Alexander Kilby, the par- 
ticulars of which follow : — 

They first call the attention of the House to the 
murder of Alexander Kilby, a citizen of Pawtucket, 
Mass. This event occurred on the 27th day of June, 
1842, being immediately after the State of Phode 
Island was placed under martial law. On that day, a 
detachment of charter troops was sent from Providence 
to Pawtucket, which is a large manufacturing village, 
situated partly in Rhode Island and partly in Massa- 
chusetts — Pawtucket River dividing the two portions 
of the village, which were united by a bridge. Until 
the arrival of these troops, there appears to have been 

* Commissions were first issued to Walter S. Burgess, George 
Turner, and Jesse S. Tourtcllot, Esqs., who were citiKcns of Rhode 
Island. Before proceeding to execute their commissions, they were 
threatened with prosecution by the present government of the state, 
imder an act of the state prohibiting the administration of extrajudicial 
oaths — an act originally aimed at the oaths administered at masonic 
lodges. These threats were thrown out to intimidate the commission- 
ers from executing their commissions, in the vain hope of suppressing 
the facts which the investigation by the committee was likely to elicit. 
Yet, as appears by the documents accompan^-ing the president's m.cp- 
sage, in answer to a resolution of the committee, this law was repeat- 
edly v'iolated by Judge Pitman, Henry L. Bowcn, and Thomas M. Bur- 
gess, adherents of the charter govermnent, who did not scruple to 
take depositions and administer oaths contrary to its provisions ; for 
which they have never been called to an account, and never will be. 
The committee, however, were not defeated by this paltry expedient 
to elude an inquiry into their acts by the existing authorities of the 
state. 



236 THE LIFE AKD TIMES OF 

no disturbance or particular excitement among the ipeo- 
pie on either side of the river. After their arrival, and 
near the evening, they commenced acts of outrage and 
violence which can find no excuse or palliation in the 
conduct of the inhabitants. They began these outrages 
by repeated discharges of musketry, loaded with ball 
cartridges, among the populace of the village, who had 
been drawn together more from curiosity than any other 
motive, and who had offered no resistance or violence to 
the military. Many of the balls thus discharged rattled 
upon the brick walls of the houses ; others penetrated 
and lodged inside. Two of the citizens were hit and 
shghtly wounded^ and Alexander Kilby, a peaceable and 
quiet citizen, was shot dead. To show the circum- 
stances under which he was killed more particularly, 
the committee extract the following statement from the 
deposition of Samuel W. Miller, who stood near Kilby 
at the time he was shot. Miller was a resident of 
Pawtucket, on the Rhode Island side of the river. 
He says, — 

" On Monday evening, June 27, 1842, about dusk, 
I crossed over the bridge from the Rhode Island to the 
Massachusetts side, at Pawtucket, there being a guard 
of armed men stationed on the bridge at that time. I 
went up to Mr. AbelFs hotel, and remained there until 
about half past eight o'clock, P. M., when a person 
came in and stated that a woman had been killed on the 
bridge. I had previously heard the discharges of mus- 
ketry, but, supposing them to be blank cartridges, I did 
not take any notice of them. I immediately started for 
the bridge, to learn if the report was correct, and had 
proceeded as far as the corner of Mr. William Sweet's 
shop, within eighteen yards of the soldiers at the bridge, 
when I was accosted by Mr. Alexander Kilby, who put 
out his hand and asked when I was going dov/n the river. 
At that moment I saw two of the soldiers on the bridge 
taking deliberate aim at us, and heard Nehemiah Potter, 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 237 

of Pawtucket, then in command of the soldiery, and 
whom I knew well, give the order to fire. I know that 
he was the person who gave the order to fire. I grasped 
Kilby's hand to pull him one side ; but before I could 
succeed, one of the guns went off, and he fell dead at 
my feet ; the other missed fire, which probably saved 
my own life. I left Kilby on the ground, and hurried 
back to Abell's hotel, the soldiers continuing to fire, the 
effects of which may be seen in a number of bail holes 
in the buildings in the vicinity of the bridge on the 
Massachusetts side. . . . Kilby, at the time he was 
shot, was doing nothing to assail or provoke the sol- 
diers, nor had I seen him. ... I never knew nor 
saw Kilby take any part in the suffrage cause. I saw 
no persons assailing or insulting the soldiers when 
Kilby was killed, and knew no reason why they should 
have fired on us." 

Several other witnesses confirm the testimony of Mil- 
ler in all its essential particulars, as well in respect to 
the killing of Kilby, and the indiscriminate firing upon 
the citizens of Pawtucket, as to the fact that the troops 
had no adequate provocation for such an unjustifiable 
and atrocious outrage. No coroner's inquest was held 
on the body of Kilby ; and he was buried while the 
bridge was surrounded by the charter troops with can- 
non loaded and matches lighted, the funeral procession 
passing near to them in its way to and from the place of 
burial. 

Thus was a peaceable and inoffensive man murdered 
in cold blood, in mere wantonness, and without a pre- 
tence of justification by the charter troops of Rhode 
Island. Kilby, the murdered man, left a wife and 
seven children in indigent circumstances. After his 
death, it is proved that the citizens of Pawtucket and 
other places contributed sums of money, amounting to 
about two hundred dollars, for their rehef. But the 



238 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

authorities of Ehode Island have done nothing to mitigate 
the privations and sorrows of a family whose protector 
and father was shot down by the wanton act of troops 
in their own employment. 

Other acts of violence were committed upon persons 
and property at the same time by the charter troops. 
Among them are the following cases : — 

Daniel F. Cutting was hit in the arm with a musket 
ball, and slightly wounded. Another man, William R. 
Siiloway, was slightly wounded in the knee with a 
musket ball. Robert Abell and Larned Scott, while 
passing over the bridge on to the Rhode Island side, in a 
covered carriage, were shot at without cause or provoca- 
tion, the ball penetrating the carriage, and passing 
through between the two inmates, at the imminent haz- 
ard of their lives. Samuel W. Miller was arrested by 
the charter troops without cause, rudely treated, and 
finally discharged. His house was searched, his shop 
broken open, and his property damaged. Amos Ide 
was arrested by James N. Olney, a citizen of New 
York, and placed under a guard of four men, two of 
whom said they were citizens of New York, and one 
was a citizen of Massachusetts. He was finally dis- 
charged, nothing appearing against him. 

John S. Despeau was arrested without cause, taken 
to Providence, and discharged. The soldiers took pos- 
session of his confectionery shop, and converted a por- 
tion of its contents to their own use, for which he never 
has been paid. 

The witnesses all concur in the statement that the 
disturbances which occurred in Pawtucket were pro- 
duced by the charter troops sent there from Providence. 
All the acts of violence and outrage detailed above were 
unprovoked and unjustifiable ; and the discharge of 
loaded muskets into the centre of a populous village 
can be ascribed to no other motive than a wanton dis- 
position to destroy human life. For proof of the facts 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 

above stated, the committee refer to the depositions of 
the witnesses. 

2. The second matter inquired into by the commis- 
sioner was the detention of Governor Dorr's order to 
disband the suffrage forces, by which the peace of the 
state and the lives of its citizens were kept in peril a 
day longer ; and the interference with the public press. 

The testimony under this head shows that before 
seven o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th day of June, 
18^:2, Governor King and his council had intercepted 
and knew Governor Dorr's order to disband his troops, 
which was enclosed in a letter to Walter S. Burgess, 
Esq., with an urgent request that the order should be 
forthwith published in the Express newspaper, the organ 
of the ■ suffrage party, and that Governor King and his 
council, together with Colonel James Bankhead, of the 
United States army, (who appears to have been present 
at the consultation,) believed that the suffrage troops had 
been disbanded. It further shows that Governor King 
and his council Intercepted and broke open Governor 
Dorr's letter, and detained it until nine o'clock the next 
morning. The depositions under this head, and that 
of Colonel Harvey Chaffee, taken to prove the facts 
hereinafter stated under the fourth head, establish the 
very material fact, that on Monday evening, the 27th 
of June, it was known to the charter authorities, civil 
and military, that Dorr had disbanded his men, and 
resistance was at an end ; that they knew he only de- 
sired to have his men allowed to return peaceably to 
their homes ; that they had the means to have published 
his order on Monday evening or Tuesday morning, and 
thus have put an end to the excitement and all the sub- 
sequent outrages ; that, with this knowledge, they sup- 
pressed the order until about Tuesday noon ; and, in the 
mean time, they sent their troops to Chepatchet, who 
captured the abandoned fort, and seized and conveyed 
to Providence a large number of innocent persons as 



240 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

prisoners, besides committing numerous other outrages 
upon the persons and property of suffrage men ; that, 
instead of sending the inteUigence of the disbandment 
of the suffrage forces to Pawtucket, to quiet matters 
there, they sent two companies of troops, which led to 
the murder of Kilby, as has been before described. 
The testimony also proves that some four hours after 
they knew in Providence that the whole suffrage enter- 
prise was at an end, within four miles of Providence, 
and after it was known that Kilby had been shot. Gov- 
ernor King sent a park of artillery to Pawtucket to blow 
up the bridge between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 

It further appears, by the deposition of Robert Abell, 
taken by the committee, that on the night Kilby was shot, 
(June 27,) at about twelve o'clock, John Whipple, Esq., 
of Providence, escorted by two armed men, entered 
Abell's house, and told him Dorr had left Chepatchet, 
and the war was over. This fact brings the knowledge 
home to the charter authorities before most of the 
outrages hereinafter mentioned were committed, and 
demonstrates, beyond the power of contradiction, that 
revenge, and not defence, was the ruling motive of the 
charter authorities and their adherents, after the dis- 
banding of the suffrage men. 

The testimony under this head also proves a direct 
interference of armed men, coupled with the menaces 
of the charter party to suppress the suffrage press, and 
by which the Express newspaper was suppressed, as 
is directly proved by the depositions of its proprietors 
and editors, whose testimony is confirmed by the fact 
that Governor King gave them a license to publish the 
order of Governor Dorr disbanding his troops. 

Aaron Simons, a person attached to the office of the 
Herald, states that Samuel Dexter, son-in-law to the 
present governor of the state, (James Fenner,) came 
into the office, made use of abusive and violent lan- 
guage, saying " that the press and types ought to be 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. S41 

thrown into the street, and that he would be one to help 
do it. From threats out doors, and other causes, the 
press was kept in awe during the continuance of martial 
law, and the liberty of the press was, in a great meas- 
ure, suppressed." 

For the threatening and abusive language, tending 
to excite the angry passions of the mob, indulged in by 
the adherents of the charter government towards the 
conductors of the suffrage press, the committee refer to 
the testimony. 

3. The third branch of the testimony taken by the 
commissioner relates to the arrests, searches, and acts 
of violence committed upon the persons and property 
of the suffrage citizens of Ehode Island. The following 
are the most striking cases : — 

The first is the case of Leonard "Wakefield. He was 
a Methodist clergyman, residing in Cumberland, Ehode 
Island. He was arrested on the 30th day of June, 
1842, (three days after all appearance of hostility on 
the part of Governor Dorr had ceased,) and taken, with 
twenty-one other prisoners, to Providence, marched 
through the principal streets of that city amid the 
jeers and insults of the mob, committed to prison, and 
confined in a loathsome cell twelve feet by nine, poorly 
ventilated, with fifteen other persons , and kept on an 
allowance of two rations of stale bread and meat per 
day. He was imprisoned five or six days, and, noth- 
ing appearing against him, he was discharged. He was 
in favor of the suffrage cause, but had always exhorted 
both parties not to resort to arms. 

Elias Whipple was arrested on the 6th day of July, 
confined in prison for the space of thirty-one days, on a 
charge of treason, and required to find recognizance in 
the sum of $10,000, which he succeeded in doing. 
The grand jury found no bill against him. He had 
taken no part in the conflict, but to vote for the consti- 
tution and Governor Dorr. 
21 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Mehitable Howard, of Cumberland, a female, aged 
sixty-two years, was grossly assaulted and insulted. 
The following is her plain and simple story, exhibiting 
a cowardly ruffianism on the part of her assailants, as 
disgraceful to humanity as it was unprovoked and un- 
called for. She says, — 

" On the 29th of June, 1843, in the morning, be- 
tween five and six o'clock, Alfred Ballou, with seven 
other men, all armed with guns, came to my house and 
entered it, I forbidding them to enter. Myself and 
grandchildren were the only persons in the house. He 
broke the door open, and drove it off the hinges. As 
Ballou came in, he seized me by the shoulders, and 
shook me hard, leaving prints where he took hold of 
me. He then pushed me, and pushed me against a post 
about three or four feet from where I was standing, 
which bruised my shoulder very much. He came up to 
me again, seized me, and pushed me again towards the 
window, saying, * Get out of the way,' in a loud voice. 
He then gave me a shake, and left me, saying, ' Where 
is Liberty ? ' (meaning my son,) ^ and where is the gun ? ' 
He went up stairs, and searched the chambers, turning 
the beds over in which the little children were. He 
then came down, went into my lodging room, and tooji 
a gun and carried it off. I was much overcome ; but 
when he came out, I said, * I don't fear you, Mr. Ballou.' 
He then came up to me, laid his hands on me, shook 
me, and said, in a very loud voice, ' Do you know that 
you are under martial law ? ' He then took his bayo- 
net, and put the point of the bayonet against the pit of 
my stomach. He pressed the bayonet against me, and 
said, ^ I will run you through,' looking very angry and 
spiteful. The point of the bayonet went through my 
clothes, and fractured the skin, but did not break it, but 
caused the blood to settle the size of a ninepence, or 
larger. I really believed at the time he intended to run 
me through. With, my hand I knocked the bayonet 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 



US 



away, and he stepped back, and stood and looked at me 
with a stern look, and then went out of the house. My 
husband was a suffrage man, which is the only reason I 
know for this treatment. Ballou had been a neighbor 
of ours for near forty years. He was a charter man. 
I was hurt very bad, and unable to do much work for 
several days after, and have never recovered from the 
effects of the shock upon my system. I am sixty-two 
years of age." 

Nehemiah Knight was arrested for saying it was " a 
mean business to shoot Kilby." He was again arrested, 
and marched through the streets of Providence, to the 
armory, by a gang of white men and negroes armed, 
(mainly negroes,) and was guarded by negroes. He 
was kept in confinement two days, when, nothing ap- 
pearing against him, he was discharged. 

Elizabeth Nutter was assaulted and rudely treated by 
one of an armed band of charter men, while they were 
searching the house of a Mr. Haswell, where she re- 
sided. 

Otis Holmes, a citizen of Providence, of great re- 
spectability, had his dwelling house, store, and brewery 
broken open by a band of armed charter men. He 
offered them his keys ; but they preferred to force their 
way by violence. After searching his house, store, and 
brewery, he was marched off — two men holding him 
by the collar, while another walked in front, with a pis- 
tol, to the office of Henry L. Bowen. The gang con- 
sisted of thirty men with muskets. He made no 
resistance ; he heard no charges against him, and, with- 
out examination, was committed to jail, where he re- 
mained seven days ; and then, without examination, he 
was put into one of the cells of the state prison, with 
seven others. He adds, " It was large enough for us 
to lie down by lying heads and points. I remained 
there twenty-one days. The suffering was extreme 
from heat and want of air, with plenty of vermin. The 



244 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 

health of the prisoners suffered materially. During 
the time, I was examined by the commissioners. They 
charged me with keeping arms to aid the suffrage cause. 
No proof was shown. I was remanded. I then got 
a writ of habeas corpus before Judge Staples of the 
Supreme Court, and went before him in a room in the 
jail, and, upon a hearing, was discharged. I was then 
immediately committed by the sheriff, on a warrant 
from Henry L. Bo wen, on a charge of treason. I then 
applied for another writ of habeas corpus, which Judge 
Staples ordered to be heard before the whole court at 
Newport. I was there, and allowed bail in the sum of 
$12,000, with sureties. At the next sitting of the 
court in the county of Providence, the grand jury found 
no bill against me, and I was discharged, 1 was in 
close prison fifty-nine days." 

Henry Lord, a non-combatant, was taken near Acote's 
Hill, marched with other prisoners, with arms pinioned, 
to Providence, and there confined in the state prison, 
with thirteen others, in a cell seven feet by ten, in 
which he was kept twenty-one days, and discharged on 
parole. 

The house of Martin Luther, in the town of War- 
ren, was broken open on the 29th of June, 1842, by 
nine armed charter men, and the female inmates rudely 
treated — their lodging rooms being broken into before 
they had time to put on their necessary clothing. They 
used violent language to the mother of Mr. Luther, 
pointing a weapon at her breast, and threatening to 
" run her through " if she did not tell where her son 
Martin was. 

Stafford Healey, a hired man of Mr. Luther, was, at 
the same time the transaction last described took place, 
forcibly seized by the same armed men who broke into 
Mr. Luther's house, carried to jail, where he was con- 
fined seven days, and then discharged — nothing ap- 
pearing against him. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 245 

Jedediah Sprague was arrested and confined in prison 
twenty-two days on a charge of treason, when, nothing 
appearing against him, he was discharged. His family 
were also grossly maltreated by the charter miUtary at 
Chepatchet, and his property despoiled and forcibly 
taken away to a large amount, ($2546, as he alleges,) 
which he has never been able to reco|pr, and for which 
the government of Khode Island have, as yet, allowed 
him nothing. For a particular account of the gross 
maltreatment of the females of his family and the 
plunder of his property, reference is made to his testi- 
mony. (See pages 156-166.) Other depredations were 
also committed by the charter troops upon the property 
of the citizens of Chepatchet, as appears by the testi- 
mony. 

4. The fourth and last matter of inquiry was the 
taking of Acote's Hill, Dorr's post at Chepatchet ; or- 
ders to the military ; interference of the United States 
officers, and the using of the custom house at Provi- 
dence as a place of deposit for military stores belonging 
to the charter authorities. Without giving a digested 
abstract of the testimony under the last-mentioned 
heads, the committee will briefly refer to the facts 
which it establishes. 

They will first give an account of the capture of 
Acote's Hill. It appears from the testimony that the en- 
campment of Governor Dorr was broken up on the morn- 
ing of the 27th of June, 1842. This fact the charter 
government had learned from the intercepted order of 
Governor Dorr disbanding his forces ; and, of course, be- 
fore a soldier was ordered by them to Chepatchet, there 
was no enemy to meet, no fighting to be done, and no 
honors to be won by the toil and blood of battle. The 
troops, therefore, were sent to capture a deserted fort — 
an achievement which they performed with a chivalrous 
heroism which became an enterprise so desperate, as 
21* 



^46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

will be seen by the following account of the incidents 
connected with the expedition. On the morning of the 
^8th, the charter troops arrived from Providence. As 
they approached, they discharged their pieces at persons 
indiscriminately, whom they happened to see, and cap- 
turing such persons as they took a fancy to capture. 
There was no person in the encampment of Governor 
Dorr, and nobody in arms in or about the hill, and no re- 
sistance whatever was offered by any one to the charter 
force. Having made their bloodless assault upon the 
dismantled fortress, they returned to a hotel near by, 
where several persons were captured and confined, and 
sundry acts of violence and insult to peaceable citizens 
were committed. The scene is thus described by Mr. 
Joseph Holbrook, a gentleman residing in Boston, who 
was an eye witness. He says, " An advance of from 
eighteen to twenty-five men, of the charter troops, (so 
called,) came up to the hotel ; the main body of a 
division of about seven hundred men not being then in 
sight. The advance party were armed with rifles or 
carbines, and swords, and pistols ; and as they ap- 
proached at double-quick time, they fired their pieces, 
without any apparent cause or the least provocation, at 
any persons they saw indiscriminately. When this ad- 
vance party came up to the hotel, I inquired of one of 
them who commanded the party ; and he said Lieutenant 
Pitman, and pointed him out to me. From what I 
then learned and saw, I have not the least doubt that 
this person was Mr. Pitman, the clerk of the United 
States courts of Rhode Island. I said there was no 
need of violence. Several persons were standing in 
the entry of the hotel, the front door being open. There 
was no show of resistance, and nothing to make it with. 
One of the persons in the entry was recognized, by the 
men who came up, as Mr. Eddy, a suffrage man, as I 
then understood. He was called by name, and ordered 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 247 

to come out. He replied that he should not. Two of 
the armed party then rushed into the house, to force 
him out. A scuffle ensued between them in the entry, 
and the front door was accidentally shut. Lieutenant Pit- 
man, observing this, gave the door a kick with his foot, 
but it did not open ; he then levelled and took aim with 
his carbine, and appeared to be going to discharge it. 
Seeing this, I caught him by the shoulder, and begged 
of him not to fire, as he might kill some of his own 
men, as well as others. He replied, ^ I don't care a God 
damn, if I can kill somebody,' and instantly fired. A 
ball passed through the key-hole of the front door, and 
took effect in the thigh of Horace Bardine ; and I saw 
him in a few minutes coming from the house, led by two 
men, and shot in the thigh. Lieutenant Pitman's party 
charged upon them as soon as they appeared, and were 
forced back ; and I did not see Bardine afterwards." 

Another witness (Colonel Mitchell, of Boston) gives 
substantially the same account of the conduct of the 
charter troops on the occasion referred to, and states 
the additional fact, that Colonel Bankhead, of the United 
States army, vms there in company with the charter 
troops. 

The next day, after picking up as many stragglers as 
they could find to swell their triumph, the charter army 
returned to the city of Providence with their prisoners 
in charge, and the spoils and plunder of the enemy. 
The finale of this celebrated military enterprise is thus 
described by Henry Lord, a man sixty years of age, 
who was among the captives. The troops had in 
charge about one hundred prisoners, all unarmed men, 
whom they had picked up by the wayside in their 
march from Providence. He says, ^' The next morn- 
ing, we were mustered and tied together with large bed 
cords. The rope was passed in a close hitch around 
each man's arm, passing behind his back, and fastening 



248 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

him close to his neighbor, there being eight thus tied 
tQo-ether in each platoon. We had no use of the arm 
above the elbow. In this way we were marched on 
foot to Providence, sixteen miles ; threatened and 
pricked by the bayonet if we lagged from fatigue, the 
ropes severely cliafing our arms ; the skin was off of 
mine. In two instances, when the soldiers were halted, 
we were refused the use of their cups to get water from 
the brook which passed the road, and had no water till 
we reached Greenville,, about eight miles. It was a very 
hot day ; I had had no water or breakfast that morning, 
and I received no food until the next day in Provi- 
dence. We were marched thus tied through the streets^, 
and, after being exhibited, were put into the state prison^ 
Fourteen were put into my cell, which was seven feet 
by ten. After remaining in prison twenty -five days, I 
was released on parole." — (See Lord's testimony, page 
140.) 

Such was the achievement of the charter troops at 
Chepatchet, and such the exhibition they made in their 
march of triumph through the streets of Providence ! 

The testimony under the last-named head proves alsa 
the following important facts, namely : — - 

That the United States troops at Fort Adams were 
provided with ammunition, flints, and haversacks to 
carry rations. Provisions were also prepared for them 
for two days' service. They were daily inspected, and 
in every respect prepared for active service, and ivere 
gwen to understand by their officers that they were to 
act on the charter side against the suffrage cause. 

That the magazine at Fort Adams was used as a de- 
pository for powder belonging to the charter govern- 
ment, which was taken away from time to time. 

That cartridges for cannon, and United States mus- 
kets, were delivered to the charter troops from the 
United States magazine at Fort Adams. 

That the United States custom house at Providence 



THOMAS WILSON DOEE. ^49 

was made a depot of arms and accoutrements by the 
charter authorities. 

That the following officers and persons in the service 
of the United States took an active part on the charter 
side, bearing arms and serving in the military, viz. ; 
John Pitman, United States judge for the district of 
Khode Island; John S. Pitman, clerk of the United 
States courts ; Edward J. Mallet, postmaster at Provi- 
dence ; William R. Watson, United States collector ; 
Sylvester Hartshorn, United . States marshal ; Kichard 
W. Greene, United States district attorney ; Peleg 
Aborn, United States surveyor ; Remington Arnold, in- 
spector of customs ; and Elisha H. Rhodes, United 
States boatman. All these individuals were seen in 
arms 'in the ranks of the charter troops, and Edward J. 
Mallet and Sylvester Hartshorn were particularly offi- 
cious in heading armed men and searching the houses 
of citizens belonging to the suffrage party. For the 
details of which, the committee must refer to the testi- 
mony taken by the commissioner. 

It is also proved that arms belonging to the State of 
Massachusetts were provided for the use of the charter 
troops ; and it is also in proof that boxes of accoutre- 
ments marked " U. S. A.," and belts bearing the ini- 
tials of the United States, were among the deposits 
of arms at the custom house in Providence. This, and 
other facts proved in the course of the investigation, 
leave no doubt on the ininds of the committee that both 
arms and ammunition were supplied to the charter troops 
from the stores of the United States. 

The testimony shows that, especially after the decla- 
ration of martial law, the most lawless and outrageous 
proceedings, on the side of the charter party, took 
place in reference to the persons and property of the 
suffrage party. Every individual of the former party 
seemed to imagine himself clothed with a license to 



250 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

invade the domiciles of the latter, seize and injure their 
property, and commit assaults upon their persons. 
Never in the history of this country were the rights of 
the minority, in a political quarrel, so grossly disre- 
garded and so wantonly violated. And never in our 
annals were such outrages perpetrated, even under the 
iron rule of martial law. The committee have given 
but few of the instances of insult and outrage upon 
persons and property which have come to their knowl- 
edge in the course of their investigations ; a full detail 
of which would require more time and space than they 
could devote to this portion of their report. And they 
are bound, in justice to the suffrage party, to say that, 
during all their trials, so well calculated to exhaust 
their forbearance, they were guilty of no bloodshed nor 
personal violence. Their fellow-citizens of the charter 
side suffered neither in person nor property by their 
acts. 

CONCLUSION. 

The committee cannot forbear, in concluding the 
views which they have very hastily, and therefore 
crudely and imperfectly, thrown together in relation to 
the questions of fact and of right connected with the 
suffrage movement in Rhode Island, to submit a few 
remarks designed to awaken the House, and, through 
the House, the American people, to the transcendent 
importance of the great leading question involved in 
this inquiry, viz. : the inherent sovereign right of 

THE people to CHANGE AND REFORM THEIR EXISTING 
GOVERNMENTS AT PLEASURE. 

It is the solemn conviction of their minds, that upon 
the full, free, and universal acknowledgment of this 
sacred right, in this and in every other country pre- 
tending to be free, the liberties of the people depend. 
For if they surrender this great principle, and admit 
that the sovereign power of the state does not reside in 



THOMAS WILSON DOER. 251 

tliem, but in the political organization, or actual exist- 
ing government, and that they cannot correct the de- 
fects in the original organic forms of government, or 
cannot abolish them and substitute others in their places, 
without the consent of the existing government, what 
defence have they against the encroachments of those in 
power, either by actual and forcible usurpation, or false 
and insidious construction of the fundamental law ? 
What ramparts exist against the approaches of despotic 
power ? In what does the doctrine that the people 
cannot resort to their ultimate right of sovereignty, 
without the consent of the existing authorities of a state, 
as contended for by the president of the United States, 
differ in substance and essence from the divine right of 
kings, openly preached in the dark ages of European 
despotism ? 

The committee feel more deeply the importance of 
this subject of their investigation, from the great and im- 
minent danger which now threatens the invaluable con- 
servative principle of popular sovereignty, upon which, 
in their humble belief, the whole fabric of the American 
system of republican government is reared. They have 
seen, with deep regret and anxious alarm, the principle 
for which they are contending openly scqffed down and 
repudiated by one of the great political parties into 
which the people of this country are divided. They 
have seen it smothered by the leaders of that party in 
the Senate of the United States, who refused to listen 
to the complaints of the aggrieved people of Rhode 
Island, or to make an effort to stay the executive arm 
of the government, when it was unlawfully levelled 
against them and their cause. (See the speech of Mr. 
Allen, of Ohio, in the Senate of the United States, on 
the Rhode Island question, page 257.) And, lastly, 
they have seen one of the leaders of that party, now their 
acknowledged candidate for the highest office in the gift 
of the American people, arraying himself against the 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



cause of free government, and denying and repudiating, 
in his open approval of the course of the president in 
the late difficulties in Rhode Island, the great principle 
upon which all free governments must be founded, 

viz., THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE. When the 

committee witness the spectacle of a large and pow- 
erful party, individually and collectively, through its 
organized political bodies, and its head and leader 
avowing openly and undisguisedly doctrines inimical 
to the liberties of the people and the principles of 
free government, they cannot but be deeply alarmed 
for the safety and perpetuity of our republican institu- 
tions. Therefore it is, that they look upon the ques- 
tion presented to the House and the country, by the 
people of Rhode Island, as the most solemn and mo- 
mentous in its character of any that has arisen since 
the American revolution. On its decision by the 
American people depends the ultimate fate of free gov- 
ernments, and the weal or woe of countless millions 
destined to fill the places v/hich we fill, and in their ap- 
propriate time become the watchmen and guardians of 
the temple of liberty, and the venerable and sacred 
monuments v/hich it contains. 

The committee are aware that it is alleged against the 
investigation in which they have been engaged, that no 
good can result from it. It is urged that the events 
which have given rise to it are past and gone, and no 
practical results can be attained by agitating the matter 
at this day. It is urged that, even if it w^ere to ap- 
pear that the people of Rhode Island were right in the 
principle they contended for, no remedy could now be 
extended to them ; and, therefore, it is best that the 
wrongs they have suffered should be permitted to slum- 
ber undisturbed in the dark tomb of events, which have 
lived their brief moment, and passed away to be buried 
and forgotten. But is it not of some consequence that 
the great principle involved in the suffrage movement 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 253 

should be defined and settled, even if no other benefit 
can result from this investigation ? Is it not of the 
utmost importance that the people of the several states 
of this Union should be apprised of the views of Con- 
gress (which has an ultimate supervision over all their 
constitutions) in relation to the great question of their 
right to change and reform them, that they may know 
how far they may be permitted to exercise this right, 
and in what mode, and under what restrictions ? It is 
for the want of this very knowledge that a large major- 
ity of the people of Rhode Island have been involved 
in all the consequences of alleged treason, and many of 
them actually indicted and prosecuted, with a view to 
subject them to its terrible penalties. It is for the want 
of this knowledge that they have been denounced as 
rebels and insurgents, and have been conquered and 
subdued by the government which they believed was 
ruling over them without right, aided by the mihtary 
power of the Union. 

The people of Rhode Island, in common wdth the 
whole body of the American people, confided in the 
assurance contained in the Declaration of Independence, 
that they had a right to alter or abolish existing forms 
of government, and institute other forms, in their places. 
They saw this great right proclaimed in the constitu- 
tions of twenty of the sovereign states of this Union ; 
they saw it promulgated, in clear and emphatic terms, 
by all the great writers upon the subject of free govern- 
ment ; and they had no doubt it was their right. And 
is it for a moment to be supposed that the majority of 
the people of a state, comprising in its ranks many of 
its best and purest citizens, would have incurred the 
perils of treason, and exposed themselves to the odious 
charge of insurrection and rebellion, and all their train 
of penalties, persecutions, and disgrace, on the pretence 
of exercising a great right, without entertaining an hon- 



S54: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

est and sincere belief that they possessed it ? And, if 
they have not this right, is it not due to justice and 
humanity that these deluded people should be disabused 
of their delusions, and taught the unwholesome truth 
that they are the subjects of government, and not its 
sovereigns, and that they cannot meddle with its fun- 
damental forms, without first obtaining the consent of 
those who happen to possess, for the time being, the 
offices and power of government ? In the belief of the 
committee, it is due to the unfortunate people of Rhode 
Island, whose honest motives have led them to incur 
the sufferings and persecutions of which they are now 
the victims, as well as to the American people at large, 
who may, from the same view (true or mistaken) of 
their rights, incur the same penalties and persecutions, 
to settle the question of the right of the people over 
their governments, which hitherto they have supposed 
existed in their own consent, and were instituted for 
their own benefit. For this reason, if no other could 
be assigned, the committee believe the investigation 
\v\t\\ which they have been charged will be attended 
with beneficial results, not only to the people of Rhode 
Island, who are immediately interested, but to the 
people of the whole Union, whose rights are involved 
in the issue of this question. 

And they exult in the belief that their views and 
opinions touching the important matters involved in 
this inquiry have been so decidedly expressed as to 
leave no doubt in relation to their character. They do 
not hesitate to avow, in the most emphatic terms, their 
profound and conscientious conviction that the people 
of Rhode Island were right in the principle on which 
they acted in their late effort to establish a republican 
constitution in place of the old charter, under which 
they had so long lived. They believe that the doc- 
trines promulgated by the president, in relation to the 
rights of the people in such cases, and the aid given by 



THOMAS WILSON DORR ^55 

the executive of the United States to the charter authori- 
ties, by which they were enabled to conquer the people 
and suppress their government, are at war with the 
great principle which lies at the very foundation of free 
government, and not warranted by the constitution. 
Tlie committee believe that the president, in sustaining 
the pretensions of a government which had been abol- 
ished by the people of Rhode Island, and wdiich held 
its power by direct and flagrant usurpation, has inflicted 
a blow upon the cause of popular rights, for which a 
long life of meritorious service cannot atone. And that 
the evil example set in this matter by the executive 
may not hereafter be regarded as a precedent for sim- 
ilar invasions of the rights of the people, on the part of 
those who may be clothed with the dignity and power 
of the presidential oflice, they recommend to the House 
to impress upon it the seal of its most decided and em- 
phatic condemnation. 

In accordance with the facts found in the matter sub- 
mitted to the committee by the House, and the princi- 
ples endeavored to be maintained by them, they report, 
for the consideration of the House, the accompanying 
resolutions. 

Resolved, That all free men, when they form the 
social compact, are equal ; and that no man, or set of 
men, are entitled to exclusive, separate, public emolu- 
ments or privileges from the community. 

Resolved, That all power is inherent in the people, 
and all free governments are founded on their authority, 
and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness ; 
and for these ends they have at all times an unalienable 
and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish their 
government, in such manner as they may think proper. 

Resolved, That the sovereign power of the State of 
Rhode Island is inherent in the people thereof; and 
that they have at all times the unalienable and inde- 
feasible right to alter, reform, or abolish their govern- 



256 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ment, in such manner as they may think proper ; and that 
any constitution or frame of government, republican in 
its form, adopted by them, is entitled to the guarantee 
of the United States, until abrogated by an act of said 
people, as solemn and authentic as that by which it was 
adopted. 

Resolved, That the constitution adopted in December, 
1841, by the people of Rhode Island, is republican in 
its form, and was rightfully .adopted by a majority of 
said people, and, as such, was entitled to the guarantee 
of the United States until it was virtually surrendered 
by the assent of said people to the existing constitution 
of said state, as indicated by the act of registering their 
names and voting in the first general election under 
said last-mentioned constitution. 

Resolved, That the government established under the 
constitution adopted by the people of Rhode Island in 
December, 1841, and duly organized according to its 
provisions, was, until the said constitution was surren- 
dered by the assent of the people to the existing con- 
stitution, the legitimate constitutional government of 
said state ; and that all acts, laws, and proceedings of 
said government, under said constitution of 1841, and 
in accordance therewith, and the records thereof, are 
entitled to full faith and credit in all the other states of 
the Union, and in the courts of the United States. 

Resolved, That the interference by the president of 
the United States with the military power of the Union, 
on the side of the late charter government of Rhode 
Island, against the constitution adopted in 1841, and 
by which the same was suppressed, was unauthorized 
by the constitution and laws of the United States, and 
in derogation of the rights of the people of Rhode 
Island. 

Resolved, That John Pitman, United States judge for 
the district of Rhode Island ; John T. Pitman, clerk 
of the United States courts for the district of Rhode 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 257 

Island ; Edward J. Mallet, postmaster at Providence ; 
William R. Watson, collector of customs at the port 
of Providence ; Sylvester Hartshorn, marshal of the 
United States for the district of Rhode Island ; Richard 
W. Greene, attorney of the United States for the dis- 
trict of Rhode Island ; Peleg Aborn, surveyor at the 
port of Pawtuxet ; Remington Arnold, inspector of 
customs ; and Elisha H. Rhodes, United States boat- 
man at said port of Pawtuxet, by personally interfering 
with arms, in a military capacity, in the late political 
contest of the people of Rhode Island, growing out of 
the attempt to establish a constitution for said state, 
have been guilty of conduct unauthorized by the consti- 
tution and laws ef the United States^ of evil example, 
and tending to compromit the government of the United 
States in its relations with the State of Rhode Island, 
and to produce forcible collision between the people of 
said state and the authorities of the United States, at the 
imminent hazard of involving the whole Union in the 
calamities and horrors of civil war. 

The foregoing report was signed by Hon. Edmund 
Burke, chairman of the select committee. 

The following speech was made in the Senate of the 
United States on the I7th of May, 184^, by Mr. Allen, 
of Ohio. 

Mr. Alien said he proposed, before he sat down, to 
submit two other resolutions ; and, in doing so, he 
would offer to the Senate some reasons upon which 
those resolutions were founded. He believed this had 
been the habitual practice in the Senate ; and he hoped 
that, in this case, he would not be prevented from fol- 
lowing the same practice. He would read, in the hear- 
ing of the Senate, the resolutions which he proposed to 
offer, in order that the Senate might judge of their 
propriety. He found upon the files of the Senate a 
document containing a series of resolutions passed by 
22* 



258 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the legislature of the State of Rhode Island^ by which 
the governor of that state was requested to mform the 
president of the United States, and the two Houses of 
Congress, that a new system of goyernment had been 
adopted in that state, and was now in full operation. 
It had, therefore, been brought officially to the notice 
of the Senate that the people of Rhode Island had 
adopted a constitutional form of government, and that 
that government is now in full operation. This com- 
munication left the Senate no alternative ; they could 
not close their eyes to the fact that there were, at this 
time, two governments in actual existence within that 
state — one of which must be right, and the other 
wrong. In this state of affairs the president of the 
United States had assumed to himself the power and 
authority of deciding this irital and momentous ques- 
tion, by pledging himself to support the old form of 
government, established under the charter granted by 
Charles the Second, and against that government deter- 
mined upon and adopted by the people. This being 
the state of the facts, it was a question of propriety and 
of power with the Senate to take into consideration — - 
when informed of these facts by authority, real o-r pre- 
tended^ of the State of Rhode Island, and knowing the 
course Avhich the president of the United States had 
taken in the matter — -whether it was consistent with 
the duty which they owed to the constitution of the 
country to remain quiet spectators of a civil war, in 
which the powers of the federal government were to 
be brought to bear against the constitution which the 
people had formed for themselves, and in support of. 
that charter which had been rendered null and void by 
the American revolution, and under which, since the 
period of the revolution, that state had no right to 
exercise the functions of an integral portion of this 
Union, of a sovereign state, or to send senators or 
representatives to this Congress. They had no more 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 259 

right to take part in the legislation of this Union than 
they had to sit and legislate in the British Parliament. 
Sir,' said Mr, A., the question is one of serious import. 
]\j[ore — 'infinitely more — important is it than any ques- 
tion of a bank, a tariff, or any question of national 
policy which can arise under our form of government. 
It is a question upon which rests the whole system of 
the civil government of this country, and of the civil 
liberties of its people. The president of the United 
States has undertaken to decide the question for the 
American people — and that, too, against the people 
themselves. Well, sir, I said, and I repeat it, and it is 
with no unkind feelings towards any one ; for reasons 
for such feeUng I have none, but for the contrary feeling 
I have many ; but to illustrate the bearing of a great 
truth — a truth which has shaken the globe itself, and 
which I hope will continue to govern the world as long 
as it continues its revolutions upon its axis. I say 
again, there was no constitutional form of government 
in Rhode Island, by which that community could be 
considered to be properly a member of this Union, until 
the constitutional form of government was framed and 
estabUshed, and brought into being, May S, 1842. 

Sir, what is the state of this matter ? The old thir- 
teen states of this confederacy consisted of what were, 
prior to 1776, the thirteen colonies of Great Britain, of 
which Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was 
one. A revolt took place among the colonies ; that 
revolt assumed the form and bore the aspect of a war ; 
as such, it was prosecuted to its final, its successful, its 
glorious termination. This war was so begun, prose- 
cuted, and ended, with the express view on the part of 
the colonists of absolving themselves, in the language 
of the Declaration of Independence, from all allegiance 
to the throne of Great Britain. The war was success- 
ful ; American independence was purchased by Ameri- 
can blood. All political connection with Great Britain 



260 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ceased to exist, and it was made an essential part of 
that instrument by which the states were declared free, 
that they were to be considered also sovereign and inde- 
pendent. To this declaration the State of Rhode 
Island stands pledged, because that declaration was 
necessarily submitted to, and confirmed by, the legisla- 
ture of that state. 

Yes, sir, the legislature of Rhode Island confirmed 
that declaration by a solemn resolve, forever absolving 
themselves from all connection with, or relation to, 
British authority. Well, sir, after the state had thus 
annulled the charter of Charles II. of Great Britain, 
by this revolution and this declaration, where did they 
obtain their right to have a government independent of 
the people, in whom, by the new constitution of these 
United States, the sovereignty was vested ? The char- 
ter did not provide for its own amendment or for its 
own modification ; it was an emanation from the throne 
of Great Britain, and could only be modified, changed, 
or in any way affected by the throne itself, er by an act 
of the British Parliament. And it is the most extraor- 
dinary political anomaly that has characterized this 
extraordinary age, that, sixty years after the annulling of 
the charter by the revolution, the president of the 
American republic is called on to give life and vitality 
to it again. That charter was predicated upon the alle- 
giance of that community to the British crown ; and it 
existed with the restriction that the laws, rules, and 
regulations of the Governor and Company should not 
contravene the laws and statutes of Great Britain ; and 
that one fifth of the precious metals to be found in the 
soil was the property of the British government, and to 
be paid into the British treasury. Well, what became 
of their allegiance to the British government when they 
lifted the sword of revolution ? It was destroyed ; the 
relation was severed, the charter was dissolved. How 
was this dissolution effected ? By authority of the 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. ^61 

British crown ? No, sir ; by the people themselves. 
And can the British charter be restored by American 
legislation ? No, sir ; because it was founded upon the 
existence of British supremacy. Can the state itself 
give vitality to the chafter ? I answer, no ; because it 
would be inconsistent with American independence. 
And here let me be permitted to say that, inasmuch as 
it cannot be binding upon the state, it cannot upon any 
part of the state. If the whole cannot revive it, 
neither can a majority, and much less can a minority. 
It would be impossible for the people of Rhode Island, 
if they were unanimous to a man, to revive it. They 
are bound to treat it as a dead letter ; and this obliga- 
tion binds the legislature as firmly as it binds the peo- 
ple. If the charter still lives, it is because it is inde- 
structible, and must live forever ; and if it does not exist, 
as I contend, there results this appalling consequence — 
that the whole government of the State of Rhode 
Island, from the revolution up to the 3d of May, 1842, 
has been a sheer, a downright, a blasphemous usurpa- 
tion. Yes, sir, a usurpation ; for after the revolution 
was accomplished, the charter was dead. The declara- 
tion of American independence took place, and the 
revolution followed ; every thing that was British — 
every vestige of British power and authority — perished. 
It was entirely cut off from the face of this continent. 
How, then, has this form of government continued to 
exist ? It could only be in this way : At the time 
when the revolution closed, it is probable that the num- 
ber of those having rights confirmed to them by the 
charter amounted to a majority of the population, and 
they were willing that the charter should stand, that 
they might enjoy the benefits of freeholders, and be the 
lords and masters of the increasing multitudes by whom 
the state became speedily populated. There is one 
peculiarity about this state of things, to which an Ameri- 
can cannot close his eyes — that it is an exact inversion 



262 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of our political institutions. It leaves it in the power 
of the legislature to declare who shall have the privilege 
of voting ; and, consequently, they may pass a law 
excluding every one but themselves — perpetuating to 
themselves and to their descenoants the privilege, and 
excluding all others. The sovereignty is thus vested in 
the agent, and not in the principal — in the representa- 
tives of the people, and not in the people themselves. 
Well, sir, under these circumstances, what did the 
people of Rhode Island gain by the revohition ? 
They thought they were struggling to exchange British 
authority for the rights of civil liberty. Yet we see the 
great body of the people — three fifths, at least, of the 
entire population — being disfranchised, left to the 
remaining two fifths the power of governing. But we 
have seen that the .people have regenerated the govern- 
ment — have thrown off this usurpation under which 
they have so long been deprived of their rights ; and I 
will here ask, By what authority, under this charter, (if 
it does exist,) do senators from that state occupy places 
upon this floor ? Does the charter authorize the state 
to elect senators to the Congress of the United States ? 
Sir, does the charter authorize a convention of the peo- 
ple of Rhode Island to incorporate that state into the 
body of the American repubHc ? I presume not, sir. 
By what authority, then, did they act, when they 
became a constituent part of this Union ? Was it under 
that charter, granted more than a century before the 
revolution — was it by virtue of that charter, under 
which the majority of the inhabitants were disfran- 
chised, that that state took refuge, like a tempest-tost 
vessel, and became safely moored in the harbor of the 
republic ? Do you bring the charter into the federal 
constitution with you? No, sir; the people of the 
State of Rhode Island adopted, in solemn convention 
assembled, the federal constitution — the vital, elemen- 
tary principle of civil liberty. It was recognized by all 



THOMAS WILSON DORK. 26S 

parties. Without this, the state could not have become 
a member of the Union, because the constitution 
requires that this shall be done. This was not the work 
of a party ; it was effected by the fathers of the revo- 
lution, who laid dowh. the fundamental law of civil 
liberty — men whose veins were drained of their life- 
blood in procuring that independence and the enjoyment 
of that civil liberty for their descendants. What did 
that convention do ? They declared " that there are 
certain natural rights of which men, when they form a 
social compact, cannot deprive or divest their posterity ; 
among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with 
the means of acquiring, possessing, and protecting 
property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and 
safety ; " ^^ that all power is naturally vested in, and 
consequently derived from, the people ; that magistrates, 
therefore, are their trustees and agents, and at all times 
amenable to them ; " " that the powers of government 
may be reassumed by the people, whensoever it shall 
become necessary to their happiness." 

Never was there a declaration stronger or more com- 
prehensive than this, made by the sovereign people of 
the State of Rhode Island. Well, sir, what have they 
subsequently done ? Why, as soon as they got snugly 
estabUshed as a part of the Union, the Governor and 
Company of the province effected the resumption of the 
sovereignty, because there was not popular power 
enough around them to resist. They resumed the sov- 
ereignty, meting out to the people as much right and 
as much wrong as those sovereign legislators thought 
proper to mete out. Instead of having their own duties 
prescribed to them, they assumed the right to prescribe 
to the people — their lords and masters — how much 
liberty they should enjoy. Sir, the president of the 
United States, it seems, is now called upon to sustain 
this charter of a British monarch. John Tyler is called 
on to act as Charles II. of England would have done in 



S64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

enforcing this charter — by force of arms. Who ever 
before heard of an appeal to an American president to 
support British authority ? And I say again, if he has 
the right to call in the aid of an armed force to sustain 
that authority, the independence of this country does 
not exist. Such a proceeding might be tolerated in 
Canada ; but, in relation to one of the states of this 
Union, the supposition is as ridiculous as it is odious. 
The president declares that he feels himself bound, and 
that it is his duty, to employ an armed force, if it 
becomes necessary, in order to enforce obedience to this 
usurpation, which has been for half a century in exist- 
ence in Rhode Island ; he will march an armed force of 
American citizens into that state, in martLal array, to 
shoot down the people, in brder to sustain that charter, 
which it was the main object of the revolution to 
destroy. Let him try it ! let him try it ! The presi- 
dent is a man, and but a man ; he is an officer of the 
government, and but an officer. 

The power which constitutes the president rests 
neither with this body nor its friends ; it possesses a 
moral force which is superior to either. Let the presi- 
dent undertake to march an army into Rhode Island, to 
put down the liberties of the people at the point of the 
bayonet, and he will have done a deed of which his 
posterity will be ashamed — of which the nation will be 
ashamed. But, though he threatens to do it, and stands 
officially pledged to do it, I tell him (as I have told him 
face to face) that the American people will not permit 
him to do it. Here is what will test the question, 
[holding up a placard.] This I look upon as the first 
flash of indignation from the enraged brow of an angry 
people ; and I warn the president to take notice of the 
lightning's flash, as being the forerunner of a storm that 
will cover him with deep disgrace. 

Yes, sir, this is a government of principle, sustained 
by the sense of the people ; and the man who rashly 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 265 

undertakes to put down popular liberty in this country 
will meet with signal discomfiture. In connection with 
my honorable colleague, I have the honor of represent- 
ing one of the great and glorious states of this Union ; 
and, sir, I can assure you that I speak the feelings of 
the great body of the people, acting only under the 
promptings of a bold and heroic magnanimity, when I 
say that they would be roused — that they would rally 
as one man in defence of our glorious liberties, whether 
invaded by foreign or domestic foes. 

1 now offer a resolution, which will test the sense of 
this body upon the vitality of our whole system. I 
have introduced into it nothing but what has been 
prompted by a natural impulse of patriotism — nothing 
but will be responded to by the whole body of my 
countrymen. Had the Senate acted upon the resolution 
when it was first offered, the president would have 
retracted ; he would not now have stood pledged ; the 
government of the people would have gone on; the 
rights of all would have been protected by the votes 
of all. 

23 



266 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

PROPOSITIONS FOR THE RELEASE OF MR. DORR ON CON- 
DITION THAT HE WILL ENGAGE TO SUPPORT THE 
EXISTING CONSTITUTION. HE REFUSES, AND IS AFTER- 
WARDS SET AT LIBERTY BY AN ACT OF GENERAL AM- 
NESTY. REJOICINGS AND CONGRATULATIONS, ETC. 

The leaders of the " law and order " party in Rhode 
Island have made repeated efforts to justify themselves 
in view of the people of the sister states, and various 
printed documents have been extensively circulated for 
that purpose ; and it is obvious that many of the errors 
and mistakes that are found abroad with regard to this 
matter have arisen from such sources. It has been said 
that Mr. Dorr would not have been sent to the state 
prison even after sentence if he had consented to take 
an oath. The circumstances upon which that report is 
founded are simply these : During the trial and con- 
viction of Mr. Dorr, disinterested men of all parties, at 
home and abroad, regarded the proceedings as extremely 
unjust; and before he was removed to the state prison, 
his persecutors heard with concern the loud murmurs 
which arose against them from all quarters. They 
wished to screen themselves from the threatening indig- 
nation, and therefore devised the following scheme : 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 267 

Mr. Doit's father was induced to petition tlie legisla- 
ture for the liberation of his son, and a delegation of 
the " law and order " party visited Governor Dorr while 
he remained in prison at Newport, informed him of the 
said petition, and offered to advocate its passage on con- 
dition that he would engage to take an oath to support 
the existing constitution of that state. This overture 
was promptly rejected, and Mr. Dorr gave the gentle- 
men to understand that he would never take an oath 
to support a government which owed its existence to 
the power of the bayonet ; he would not sacrifice his 
principles or his honor to save himself from a dungeon 
or a gibbet, and he desired no favors from a govern- 
ment the validity of which he did not acknowledge. 
The legislature being in session at the same time, a 
member of the Senate visited Mr. Dorr in prison in 
order to ascertain his determination with regard to the 
proposed overture. During that interview Mr. Dorr 
dischiimed all knowledge of any such petition on his 
part, and requested the honorable senator, in his name, 
'' to protest against any action by the General Assembly 
upon said petition." That petition was, however, pre- 
sented, but not acted upon. Whether those individuals 
who thus endeavored to operate upon Mr. Dorr could 
or could not have induced the General Assembly to pass 
the act which they proposed, it is impossible to say ; 
but it is certain that no action was taken upon the sub- 
ject at that time, and it is well knoAvn that he would 
never have consented to any such propositions if they 
had been made. The inconsistency of this manoeuvre 
is apparent. An individual had been proved guilty, as 



268 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

his enemies said, of the most atrocious and abominable 
of all crimes, which implied a total moral depravity; 
and now they offer to set him at liberty if he will 
engage to support their cause. It was not the prisoner 
that these officious " law and order " men sought to 
relieve, but themselves and their own party. PubUc 
opinion had found them guilty of a great wrong, and 
they hoped to escape its impending sentence by casting 
away their victim. 

At the January session of the General Assembly, 
1845, the subject was brought up again without the 
knowledge or consent of Mr. Dorr, and the following 
act passed. 

Thomas fV. Dorr liberated on Condition of his talc- 
ing the Oath of Allegiance to the State. January, 
1845. 

Upon the petition of Sullivan Dorr and Lydia Dorr, 
his wife, praying for an act of amnesty, — 

Voted and resolved, That the prayer thereof be so far 
granted as that Thomas W. Dorr be liberated from his 
confinement in the state prison, upon his taking the fol- 
lowing oath or affirmation : — 

*/ I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will bear true 
faith and allegiance to the State of Rhode IsLand and 
Providence Plantations ; and that I will support the 
constitution and laws of this state and of the United 
States. So help me God. (Or, this affirmation I make 
and give upon the peril of the penalty of perjury.) " 

Said oath or affirmation shall be administered by the 
clerk of the Supreme Court, sitting in any county in 
the state, or by one of the justices thereof in vacation, 
and be recorded upon the records of said court in the 
county in which the same is taken ; and the warden of 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 269 

the state prison is hereby directed to furnish said Dorr 
with a copy of this resohition, and whenever he shall 
sio-nify his desire to take said oath or affirmation, to 
attend said Dorr before said court or justice ; and upon 
his taking said oath or affirmation, to discharge him 
accordingly. 

This act plainly showed that* the same rancorous 
spirit with which Mr. Dorr had been persecuted still 
existed in all its bitterness ; and it also showed that his 
enemies were desirous to compromise with public opin- 
ion, and purchase a pardon for themselves by pretending 
to grant one to Mr. Dorr. 

Every member of that legislature well knew that Mr. 
Dorr had once solemnly sworn to support the people's 
constitution ; and now that body offered to release him if 
he would violate that oath. Now, when the government 
had deprived him of all his civil and political rights, and 
taken away his oath, as if in mockery, they call upon 
him to go before the same haughty and arbitrary tribunal 
wdiich had, as he knew, unjustly doomed him to a fel- 
on's cell, and there swear allegiance to a government 
which had been established by force, in violation of the 
inherent and constitutional rights of the people at large. 
His enemies well knew that a compliance with that act 
would mar his spotless reputation, and clothe him with 
perpetual shame. With this mark upon their victim, 
he might go abroad to be despised and spurned by all 
men. His oath could never again be taken. By law 
he had already been deprived of all the rights and 
privileges of a citizen, or even a human being, and 
2S* 



^TO THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

nothing but a compliance with this act seemed necessary 
to complete his destruction. But those who composed 
that legislature were mistaken in their man. From a 
lofty moral eminence he looked down upon them with 
contempt. His conduct was governed by a high moral 
sense unknown to his enemies. He would not barter 
his conscience for his freedom or his life. He spurned 
the graceless overture, and, like Cato of old, gave his 
persecutors to understand that he disdained any boon 
which they had power to offer. 

Every where abroad the people applauded the heroic 
firmness of Mr. Dorr, and condemned the shameful 
tyranny of his persecutors. It was evident that a 
storm was gathering — dark rolling clouds charged with 
indignant thunders appeared in the horizon and seemed 
to threaten with destruction the Rhode Island bastile. 
Under these circumstances it was thought prudent to 
liberate their victim, and, therefore, the General As- 
sembly, on the S6th day of June, 1845, passed the fol- 
lowing act : — 

An Act to pardon certain Offences against the sovereign 
power of the State, and to quiet the Minds of the good 
Citizens thereof 

Section 1. No person shall be hereafter prosecuted 
for any crime or offence which may have been com- 
mitted against this state, and enumerated in the act 
entitled " An act in relation to offences against the sov- 
ereign power of the state," passed April 2, 1842 ; and 
every person who is under recognizance, indictment, or 
sentence for or on account of any such offence, shall 
be and is hereby discharged from such recognizance. 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 271 

indictment or sentence, and from all the civil and penal 
consequences thereof. 

Sec. 3. Any person who has been convicted of the 
crime of treason against this state, and is now in prison 
under the sentence of the law provided for such offence, 
shall be forthwith discharged from such imprisonment, 
and the keeper or warden of the prison where any such 
persozi may be, shall discharge such person from such 
imprisonment upon the production to him of a copy of 
this act certified by the secretary of state. {Passed 
June 26, 1845.) 

The language of this act, together with the circum- 
stances under which it passedg seems to deserve a pass- 
ing notice. Who '^ had been convicted of the crime of 
treason against that state, and was in prison under 
sentence " ? No one, as the legislature well knew, but 
Thomas Wilson Dorr ; yet his name is cautiously with- 
held from the act, and the general reader might be led 
to suppose that it was an act of general amnesty de- 
signed to set at liberty many persons, without any par- 
ticular reference to him. Now, when not only the slow 
unmoving finger of scorn, but the strong arm of 
power, was seen pointing towards Rhode Island, and it 
had become obvious that if his persecutors did not soon 
unloose his chains, they would be stricken off, — as if to 
deny their own fears and hide as much as possible their 
own shame, they release their victim under the disguise 
of an act of general amnesty. 

Under this act, on the 27th of June, Mr. D-orr was 
discharged. It will be recollected that it was on the 
27th of June, 1842, that he dismissed his forces at 
Chcpatchet, and on the 27th of June^, 1841, he was 



Zi)C THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

committed to the &tate prison in Providence, and at 
length, on the ^7th of June^ 1845, he was discharged 
from prison. A& soon as he was restored again to light 
and life, he was met with the joyful greetings of thou- 
sands, at home and abroad, as the following testimo- 
nials show. 

GovERiN'OR Dorr. — We leani that the parents of 
Governor Oorr, on Thursday last, availed themselves of 
a pennission to visit their son in prison, and that they 
found him in a very bad state of health. 

We have also learned from other sources, that the 
maladies with which Governor Dorr has been afflicted^ 
since his imprisonment, have been increased of late^ 
and little or no hope can be entertained of his long con- 
tinuance in life, unless he shall be speedily relieved 
from prison. — Republican Herald, Providence, May 
24, 1845. 

Go\TERNOR Dorr liberated. — We stop the press 
to announce the fact that the bill before the legislature 
for the liberation of Governor Dorr, and for a general 
amnesty, as given in our legislative proceedings, was 
passed into a law this morning. The news, together 
with an authenticated copy of the act, was brought to 
this city, yesterday, at half past two o'clock, and was 
immediately carried over to the prison by Walter S<. 
Burges, who took with him a carriage to receive Gov- 
ernor Dorr and convey him from the loathsome scene of 
his wrongs and sufferings, who is now, at three and a 
half o'clock, making preparations to quit the prison. 
Hundreds of citizens are crowding the prison door, and 
hundreds more in carriages, on horseback, and on foot, 
are thronging the roads leading to that hated place, to 
get a glimpse at this victim of persecution, and once 
more welcome him on his restoration to his fiiends, the 
people, and to the world. 



THOMAS WILSON DORK. 273 

He comes forth, not restored to his civil rights, but 
he comes to receive a joyful welcome, and the deepest 
sympathy and the warmest reception from a people who 
highly appreciate his public services and noble sacrifice 
in their behalf. The citizens are animated by a w^arm 
and generous enthusiasm by this event, but the mosfr 
commendable tranquillity prevails in the city. 

The loud booming of the cannon from Smith's and 
Federal Hills, and the waving of the flags from the 
hickory poles and flag-staffs, give unequivocal token of 
the general and undisguised joy which pervades all 
ranks and sexes in the city. . ^ ^ 

Governor Dorr is now restored to his liberty, and 
the people are rejoicing with exceeding great joy. — 
Republican Herald, June ^8, 1845. 

The Flame is bpreading. — One hundred guns 
were fired at Cambridgeport, on Monday noon, in token 
of joy at the liberation of Governor Dorr ,• flags were 
waving through the day, and rockets let off at night. 
We have not room to copy the account of the affair 
given in the Boston Times. Strong manifestations of 
joy have been made in other places, the particulars of 
which we shall give as soon as we are able. The train 
has been laid, and the match applied, and as the news 
travels onward, these outbursts of enthusiasm will be 
heard to the utmost bounds of our land, till the whole 
line pours forth one grand feu de joie. — Republican 
Herald, July 2, 1845. 

Thomas W. Dorr. — As for Governor Dorr, his 
reputation is safe with the people, and he will live to see 
the people triumphant, and their enemies overthrown. 
He but acted his part as the legal governor of Rhode 
Island, and took constitutional measures only to^ sup- 
port the government of the people. If he failed in the 
main, relying too much upon the hearty support of 
those who had pledged themselves to do their duty. 



274 THE LIFE ANt> TIMES OF 

and if they proved recreant in the hour of trial, the 
people will see that he has stood fast by the principle of 
popular sovereignty, and will cherish his memory ac- 
cordingly. 

They know he has sacrificed the applause of many 
of his fellow-associates and townsmen, his early posi- 
tion in Rhode Island, and the smiles of fortune. In 
fine, he has sacrificed all but his honor — and the 
country will see that his reputation is cared for, and his 
course vindicated. — Boston Times. 

Resolution of the New Hampshire Legislature. 

— The committee of the New Hampshire legislature, 
to which was referred the governor's message on the 
late undignified answer returned by our legislature to 
the communication from that executive, reported the 
following resolution, which was adopted by that legisla- 
ture : — 

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives in General Court convened, That the statements 
contained in the preamble and resolutions of the legis- 
lature of this state at its session in 1844, relating to the 
unjust and tyrannical treatment of Thomas Wilson Dorr 
by the authorities of Rhode Island are true ; that they 
are fully sustained by the evidence in the case, and by 
the records of the court before whom he was tried ; and 
that the Assembly of Rhode Island never can, by reso- 
lutions denunciatory of this or any other legislature, 
wipe out from the page of history the deep stain which 
must ever attach itself to that state, until full and com- 
plete justice be done to that much injured individual. 

— Republican Herald, July 4, 1845. 

Governor Dorr. — The friends of human rights 
must receive the announcement of Governor Dorr's 
release with unbounded joy ; they must hail it as an 
earnest of the onward march of the spirit of Liberty, 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 275 

and they must continue to animate and encourage their 
Rhode Island friends to the achievement of a still 
greater victory. Let the fiat go forth, — Governor 
Dorr's rights must be restored, — and the result will 
not disappoint the lovers of liberty and right. Up, 
then, freemen ! Sleep not, while a worthy and distin- 
guished citizen is denied the privileges guaranteed to 
every man by the great Magna Charta of our liberties. 
Governor Dorr will be restored — and by an Algerine 
legislature, too. It were too much for these narrow- 
hearted and selfish men to give him his Hberty and his 
rights together ; yet, we repeat, the same power which 
opened his prison doors a few days ago, will at another 
time restore him to his civil rights. Agitate, agitate — 
and all will be well. The stern sentiment of the de- 
mocracy must be respected. — Wayne County ( Ohio) 
Standard. 

A Visit to Governor Dorr. 

Pawtucket, JuUj 29, 1845. 
Mr. Editor : Yesterday, for the first time since the 
doors of the Rhode Island bastile grated upon their 
hinges, to usher once more into life and liberty the 
patriot Dorr, I had the pleasure of grasping that hand 
which would sway the sceptre of justice and mercy over 
all. And if my heart ever had cause to overflow with 
gratitude to the Disposer of all events for his goodness, 
it was when I was permitted to greet the noble martyr 
in the home of his childhood, where the loved scenes of 
his youth had so long mourned his absence, and where 
for months, ay, years, his voice had not echoed in the 
halls of his father. I found him surrounded with all 
the comforts and elegances which wealth or affection 
could bestow ; but, alas ! the richest treasure, health, 
was wanting, and his countenance and feeble step be- 
trayed disease and anguish of body, while his mind had 
been preserved in all its purity by a power higher than 



^76 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

that which had so long aimed to destroy the noblest 
work of God. And as I contemplate that lofty brow 
upon which the eternal principles of truth and justice 
were written, I thought the man who could wish or 
inflict punishment upon one like him must have a 
kindred spirit with the demons of another world. 

(Signed,) A. E. H. 

Thomas W. Dorr. — - This persecuted pati'iot has 
received invitations from the democratic republican 
general committees of the cities of New York and Al- 
bany, to visit those cities, and unite with his democratic 
friends " in a public expression of gratitude to an over- 
ruling and all-wise Providence, for the recent triumph 
of the principles of our free institutions over brute force 
and party oppression, and of a just and irrepressible 
indignation in view of the abuse of political power, un- 
paralleled in the annals of civilized nations." Unfor- 
tunately the health of Mr. Dorr is so impaired by the 
petty tyranny and vengeful and dastardly cruelty of the 
Algerines of Rhode Island, as to prevent a compliance 
with the invitations of his friends ; but we hope that, 
once more enjoying liberty, and permitted to breathe 
the free air of heaven, he will soon be able to leave the 
polluted atmosphere of Rhode Island, and unite with his 
friends in the enjoyment of the unrestrained friendship 
of American democracy and the congratulations of 
freemen. — Hudson Gazette. 

Governor Dorr's Liberation. — Every real friend 
of liberty must rejoice, and every real friend of liberty 
does rejoice, in the liberation of Governor Dorr from 
the prison in which he has been confined by the con- 
temptible vindictiveness of the party which has ever 
been hostile to human rights. He is now that for 
which he ventured all to render his oppressed fellow- 
citizens, a freeman ; and if we may infer the future from 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 277 

the popular enthusiasm which greeted his restoration to 
liberty, he will receive, as an appendage to his freedom, 
the highest honors which a grateful and intellectual 
people can bestow. The work of reformation, which 
began with the election of Governor Jackson, has been 
well sustained by the liberation of Governor Dorr, and 
will, we trust, be worthily prosecuted by the election of 
Governor Dorr to the executive chair. — Philadelphia 
Ledger, (neutral.) 

Celebration at Philadelphia, July 4:th, 1845, by the 
Young Men's Democratic Association. 

Governor Dorr — A brave man ; a patriot of the 
revolutionary stamp ! Neither the threat of protracted 
imprisonment, nor the promise of liberation, could in- 
duce him to abandon the requisition of honor, or his 
determined adherence to equal rights. (Nine cheers.) 

Among the volunteer toasts were the following : — 

By E. W. C. Greene : — 

The liberation of Thomas W. Dorr — We hail it 
as another evidence of the prevalence of democratic sen- 
timents. (Nine cheers.) 

By the committee : — 

Thomas W. Dorr — A martyr to the great and 
incontrovertible principles so ably set forth in his senti- 
ment, so nobly contended for in his actions, and for 
which he has, like an indomitable patriot, so long and 
magnanimously suffered. We rejoice that this day, so 
dear to Americans and democrats, is not still desecrated 
bv the incarceration of one of the most devoted cham- 
pions of the rights and supremacy of the people. 
(Nine cheers.) 

The following is the letter of Governor Dorr, in reply 
to an invitation to attend the celebration : — 
24 



27S THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Providence, Juhj 2, 1845. 

Gentlemen: It has been wholly oat of my power, 
until the present moment, to acknowledge your friendly 
and gratifying letter of June 12, which conveys an 
invitation to take part in celebrating the anniversary of 
our national independence. It would give me great 
pleasure to join you on this occasion in renewing our 
accustomed tribute to the principles, the acts, and the 
men of the American revolution, and, in so doing, to 
strengthen our allegiance to the great cause of freedom, 
which has been bequeathed to the patriotism and vigi- 
lance of each succeeding generation. But, for reasons 
which you will duly appreciate, I shall not be able to 
avail myself of this opportunity for a social interview, 
and must propose the accompanying sentiment as a sub- 
stitute for my personal attendance. 

With the best wish for your success in advancing 
the objects of the association, I am very truly and re- 
spectfully your friend and fellow-citizen. 

(Signed,) Thomas W. Dorr. 

To Messrs. J. N. Cardozo, J. A. Stevens, and others, 
committee. 

The Declaration of American Independence — Al- 
ways true, and not merely designed for once to set forth 
a rhetorical enumeration of abstract, barren " belliger- 
ent " rights. The absolute supremacy of the people over 
their political institutions, is the primary vital doctrine of 
our democratic republic. It was sealed with the blood 
of the revolution. It was trampled upon in this state 
in 1843. It was avenged in the election of the present 
chief magistrate of the Union. It carries terror in its 
front only to tyrants. When it shall be obscured and 
lost, the people of this country will cease both to enjoy 
and to deserve the rights and blessings of a free gov- 
ernment. (Thirteen cheers.) 

Thomas W. Dorr. — Shouts of the democracy are 



THOMAS -WILSON DOKK. 279 

heard in evezT portion of our land; and for what ? 
Se friend of^liberty, Thomas W Dorr, rs agam fee 
from the enclosure of the prison walls. 

The good men of the revolution opposed the Butish 
rlTTvi-prs of their own states. . 

'Xm^! W. Dorr opposed a like charter of his own 
state Many of the former were imprisoned by the 
Brteh • the\xtter was also imprisoned by the lovers of 

^'Siifor-the men of the revolution a.e em 
bdmed in glory. So will be the name of Governor 
Dorr ffis^grievous wrongs will be remembered ;_ his 
sr,ffein<.s can never be forgotten. Honest m principle 
a^ firm in purpose, he scorned the humiliating propo- 
tfon of his'persecutors, and chose a pnsoiier s Me 
rather than a dishonorable surrender of P""'^^? «• Jf/ 
people admired his integrity, and came to his rescue 
The spell of tyranny in Rhode Island isbroken. Its 
remnlnts may be felt for a season, but they a., crum- 
bling while the tree of liberty is growing freshly, ihe 
Jt "ngth of the tyrants, in death throes, -as spen upon 
Dorr? A stouter heart and firmer patriot could not 
have been selected among the sons of '^erty. Most 
nobly has he sustained his cause, keenly has he sut 
fered, and more proud is his triumph. He suffeied for 
princ pies near and dear to the people of this land , but 
not for himself. A base surrender of those principles 
on his part, would have saved him the pangs ofj 
prison cell. But he was not the man to make the sui- 
render, and happily in his case is the admirable saymg 
of Bryant verified - « Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise 

''^The' people will do justice to the man and his piin- 
ciples While those who have attempted to blacken 
^character and crush him are sinkiiig "^to disgi.ce 
Thomas W. Dorr will rise to distmction. ilie glatt 
shoTof freemen, at his release are welcome to every 
son of liberty. — Hartford Times. 



280 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XVIII. . 

AN ACT OF THE KHODE ISLAND LEGISLATURE TO RE- 
VERSE AND ANNUL THE JUDGMENT OF THE SUPREME 
COURT AGAINST MR. DORR. 

It may be presumed that the court which pronounced 
sentence upon Mr. Dorr seriously expected he would 
suffer its unmitigated rigor, and dole out the remainder 
of his life in that horrible sarcophagus to which that 
decree consigned him, and that the records of their 
own supreme tribunal would stand unimpeached and 
undisturbed to testify against him forever. A few fleet- 
ing years passed, and a mighty change came over their 
mad vision. Public opinion not only set their victim 
at liberty, but justified and applauded his conduct, and, 
finally, expunged the foul stain which his enemies had 
cast upon his name, and converted the records of that 
court into perpetual testimony against itself, as the fol- 
lowing preamble and enactment of the Rhode Island 
legislature show. 

An Act to reverse and annul the Judgment of the 
Supreme Court of Rhode Island for Treason, ren- 
dered against Thomas W. Dorr, June 25, A. D. 
1844. 

Whereas the General Assembly of this state hath 
from time to time exercised the powers conferred upon 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 281 

it by tlie charter of King Charles the Second, *^'to 
alter, reverse, annul, or pardon, under their common 
seal or otherwise, such fines, mulcts, imprisonments, 
sentences, judgments, and condemnations as shall be 
thought fit: " 

And whereas the same powers were continued to 
the General Assembly under the existing constitution 
of this state by the terms thereof, which provide " that 
the General Assembly shall continue to exercise the 
powers they have heretofore exercised, unless prohib- 
ited by this constitution .• " and by the provision that 
^^ the Supreme Court established by this constitution 
shall have the same jurisdiction as the Supreme Judi- 
cial Court " theretofore existing : 

And whereas an alleged political offence, for which 
a judgment hath been rendered in favor of the state, 
may in certain cases furnish a proper occasion for the 
exercise of such high powers : 

And whereas upon the trial of Thomas Wilson Dorr 
for the alleged crime of treason, there was an improper 
and illegal return of jurors in this, that one hundred 
and seven jurors from one political party were design- 
edly selected by the sheriff, in part with the aid and 
assistance of persons acting in behalf of the state, and 
only one juror from the other political party, and the 
accused was tried in a county other than that in which 
the alleged offence was committed and in which he 
resided, and he was allowed but two days with any, and 
but a few hours with some of the panel of jurors in 
which to inquire as to their disqualifications or obtain 
proof thereof, and was not allowed, after the peremp- 
tory challenge of several such jurors, and after obtain- 
ing proof of such disqualifications, to withdraw said 
peremptory challenges, and to challenge said jurors for 
cause, or to have a new trial in consequence thereof: 

And whereas the court denied the jury the right 
to pass upon questions of law, though said court had 
24* 



2S2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP' 

previously, in accordance with tlie common law, held 
that the jury might in criminal cases " take upon them- 
selves the responsibility of deciding questions of law ; " 
and the accused was not allowed to show in justifica- 
tion or in explanation of his motives or intent, that he 
acted under a constitution which had been adopted by 
a large majority of the people of the state, and an elec- 
tion under the same as governor of the state, and in 
accordance with what he deemed to be his right and 
duty in consequence thereof : 

And whereas the said Thomas Wilson Dorr was 
thereby wrongfully convicted : 

And whereas it is desirable for the best interests of 
this state that the wro72g& thereby inflicted upon said 
Dorr, and upon the people of the state, should be re- 
dressed, and that the animosities created by the civil 
commotions which preceded and accompanied said trial 
should cease and determine : 

And whereas it has been the custom of our English 
forefathers, (but for which there hath been happily no 
occasion heretofore in the history of this country,) 
whenever judgments for trea.son have been thus ille- 
gally and wrongfully obtained, to reverse by act of 
Parliament such judgments, and to direct, to- the end 
that justice be done to those who have been thus con- 
victed, that the records thereof be cancelled or de- 
stroyed : 

It is enacted hy the General Assembly as follows : — 

Section 1. The judgment of the Supreme Courts 
whereby Thomas Wilson Dorr, of Providence, on the 
twenty-fifth day of June, A. D. 1844, w^as sentenced to 
imprisonment for life, at hard labor., in separate con- 
finement, is hereby repealed, reversed, annulled, and 
declared in all respects to be as if it had never been 
rendered. 

Sec. 2. To the end that riG'ht be done to the said 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. ^83 

Thomas Wilson Dorr, the clerk of the Supreme Court 
for the county of Newport is hereby directed to write 
across the face of the record of said judgment the 
words, " Reversed and annulled by order of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, at their January session, A. D. 1854." 

Sec. S. The secretary of state" is hereby directed 
to transmit a copy of this act to each of the governors 
of the several states, and to the Congress of the United 
States. 

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect from and after its 

passage. 

This act passed at the January session, 1854, It 
was evident at that time that Mr. Dorr was declining, 
and could not long survive, and it is not supposed that 
he regarded the measure with much interest. If his 
persecutors were disposed to acknowledge their own 
guilt, he could have no objection ; but for himself, he 
humbly confided in a higher and purer tribunal. Yet 
he might have looked upon this legislative act as an in- 
dication of that universal condemnation which the world 
would pass upon his enemies. 



284 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTEK XIX. 



It does not come within our province at this time to 
present the reader with a complete biography of Mr. 
Dorr, and, after the history which has ah'eady been 
given of that poUtical controversy in which he so 
largely participated, every one must have become ac- 
quainted with the most prominent traits in his charac- 
ter. We have not intended unnecessarily to invade 
the sacred province of his private life, or to rush un- 
bidden into the domestic circle ; but we hold that the 
public character of every man is public property, and 
liable at all times to be examined and judged of. Our 
chief object in the present case is to place the motives 
and conduct of Mr. Dorr in their true light before the 
public, and to show that the cause in which he was 
engaged, and to which he sacrificed so much, was a just 
and righteous cause, and that, through all his reverses, 
he ever maintained his unflinching fidelity. We are 
aware that his memory needs no eulogium from us, and 
that the shafts of his enemies will finally crumble to 
dust beneath the immortal mound with which time will 
mark his history ; yet, for the satisfaction of such of 
our readers as may be wholly unacquainted with his 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 285 

jH-ivate life, it seems pro2:)er that we should give a brief 
sketch of his early history. 

Thomas Wilson Dorr was born in the town of Prov- 
idence and State of Khode Island, November 5, 1805. 
His parents were among the most wealthy and respect- 
able citizens, and their numerous connections comprised 
a very considerable portion of the prominent flimilies 
of the place at that time. It does not belong to us to 
give a history of his early life ; we will, therefore, pass 
it over with a single remark. The same nice sense of 
right and wrong, and the same scrupulous regard for 
truth, which marked the boyhood of George Washing- 
ton, marked also the early character of Thomas Wilson 
Dorr; and the history of his life shows that he main- 
tained that integrity with equal fidelity. His father 
being wealthy, no pains or expense was spared in his . 
education. His preliminary studies were pursued at I 
Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, and at the age of 
fourteen he entered Harvard College, where he grad- 
uated with much honor in 1823, being the second in 
his class. \ 

Soon after his graduation he commenced the study 
of law, and spent two years in the city of New York 
under the tuition of Chancellor Kent and Vice Chan- 
cellor M'Coun. He afterwards returned to his native i 
city, and made himself thoroughly acquainted with the ^ 
laws of his own state, under the instruction of some i 
of her ablest jurists. It is presumed that no yoimg ' 
man, either before or since, ever came to the bar in 
Rhode Island better qualified, or with more flattering 



S86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

prospects. Irreproachable in morals, urbane in his 
manners, and mild and unassuming in all his inter- 
course, he deserved and received the respect and esteem 
of all with whom he associated ; and it is said, that in 
his professional practice he ever maintained the same 
undeviating integrity which marked the character of his 
whole life. As an advocate he was not brilliant ; yet 
his arguments were clear, forcible, and convincing. 
But we cannot give a history of his professional career, 
because it is with his public life that we are chiefly con- 
cerned : yve wish to show that Mr. Dorr did not rashly 
and ignorajitly rush into the political arena. Perhaps 
no man in Rhode Island had a more thorough or more 
polished education, or better understood the true prin- 
ciples of American jurisprudence. From 1834 to 183T 
he represented the city of Providence in the General 
Assembly, and also at other times held many important 
offices ; and if he had been less honest and more ambi- 
tious, he might easily have obtained the highest office 
in the gift of the people of that state. His family and 
its aristocratic connections placed him in the highest 
class, and posts of honor and power seemed to beckon 
him to their embrace. But when he looked abroad 
among mankind, and surveyed the great inequality which 
every where obtained, — when he beheld one class, by 
the mere accident of wealth or position, control and 
oppress those who were less fortunate, but not less 
worthy, — a spirit of philanthopy overcame all his ambi- 
tious aspirations, and he became devoted to the inter- 
ests of the oppressed. He saw a large portion of the 
citizens of his own state actually outlawed and deprived 



THOMAS WILSON DORE. 287 

of all their political rights by the arbitrary acts of un- 
authorized legislation. * He resolved to forego his own 
individual interests, and exert himself in behalf of his 
disfranchised fellow-citizens. He. made their cause his 
cause, and determined to stand or fall with it. We 
have given the reader the outlines of that eventful 
struggle which followed, and have shown that a large 
portion of that same oppressed people, for want of 
courage and fidelity, abandoned their own cause, and 
became leagued with their oppressors. Cowardice and 
treachery united with the bayonet to crush the people 
and overthrow their leaders ; but no human power was 
able to subdue Mr. Dorr. He had embarked in a right- 
eous cause, and no reverses could damp his ardor or 
divert him from his purpose. His enemies did, indeed, 
deprive him of his liberty, and consign him to a felon's 
cell ; but in so doing they exhibited in him a most ex- 
traordinary example of magnanimous fidelity. 

In his early life, Mr. Dorr manifested the most deli- 
cate sense of moral obligations ; this governed all his 
subsequent life ; he was ever the most precise and 
punctual of all men ; there was nothing but truth in 
himself, and he expected to find it in all others ; conse- 
quently he thought too well of the world, and confided 
far too much in professions and promises. To one pos- 
sessed of a less degree of moral integrity the perfidy of 
others might have been less unexpected and less painful. 
But when his intercourse with the world had taught 
him its fickleness and its treachery, — when he saw 
those in whom he had reposed entire confidence become 
his enemies and persecutors, and came to reflect upon 



^^OO THE LIFE AXD T1ME3 OF 

the injustice and infidelity with which he had been met, 
he became, in a measure, misanthropic ; and although 
he still greeted his friends with as much warmth as 
ever, yet he became distrustful of all the world beside, 
and disinclined to mingle in society at large. 

In all his domestic habits, Mr. Dorr was strictly and 
rigidly temperate, and his social intercourse was ever 
marked with those becoming courtesies and amenities 
which betoken a highly cultivated and refined taste, 
and before the political storm burst upon him he had 
few or no enemies, and it might at first appear some- 
what surprising that one whose whole conduct was so 
respectful and courteous should so suddenly have so 
many and so bitter enemies ; but this is readily accounted 
for when we consider that in political controversies 
there is always a large class of men who have no fixed 
principles of their own, but follow the lead of political 
weathercocks, as momentary interest or inclination may 
dictate. As soon as it was ascertained that the president 
of the United States would sustain the charter govern- 
ment with the national troops, hundreds upon hundreds, 
in quick succession, abandoned the cause of the people, 
and rushed boldly to the standard of law and order ; 
and many, who but a short time before were among the 
most ardent supporters of the people's constitution, now 
became suddenly incensed against Dorr and his party, 
and often prided themselves upon their political prow- 
ess, and vied with each other in acts of violence and 
injustice. After careful inquiry and mature deliberation, 
Mr. Dorr adopted the course which his conscience 
approved, and no dangers or difficulties could turn him 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 289 

aside from his purpose. When the weak and irresokite 
had fallen by the way, and his enemies had overcome 
and scattered abroad nearly all those on whom he had 
relied for support, he remained firm and unmoved. He 
stood erect and alone, and defied the storms like a 
majestic oak in the midst of a forest which had been 
prostrated by some wild tornado— and there his char- 
acter will stand through all coming ages, and ever grow 
brighter as time rolls on. 

It is not pretended that Mr. Dorr was free from the 
errors, imperfections, and infirmities common to all men. 
His moral sensibilities led him into mistakes; he 
thought too well of the world, and his standard of 
ethics was fixed too high for practical purposes ; he 
chose to consider men as they ought to be rather than 
as they really are. He was no shrewd calculator, and 
had too Httle selfishness to deal with mankind to his 
own benefit; but instead of taking advantage of the 
errors and mistakes of other men, he nobly sought to 
benefit them by correcting their own mistakes. If he 
had been false to his own convictions and the interests 
of his fellow-men, wrapped up in his own selfishness, 
he might have cast himself upon the swelling tide of 
popularity, and rode fearlessly upon its proudest^crests ; 
fanned by the breezes of popular favor, he might have 
basked securely in its glowing sunshine, and mocked 
the complaints of the people. Sitting complacently 
upon an eminence, where fortune had placed him, he 
might have beheld, with a haughty indifference, all the 
petty storms that should rage around him. But nothing 
could induce him, sacrilegiously, to violate his own con- 
25 



290 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

science ; liis aspirations were of a higher and nobler 
nature ; he sought not to exalt himself, but to elevate 
the masses, to add his strength to their weakness, and 
restore the down-trodden to their just position in society. 
By uniting with the suffrage party he had nothing to 
gain for himself, but every thing to lose. Wealth, 
with its gaudy trappings, he despised ; he listened 
reverently to the teachings of his own conscience, and 
looked with contempt upon empty and transitory popu- 
larity. He offered his best services to his fellow- men, 
not to gain any thing for himself, but to benefit them ; 
and in his fall he shared the fate common to men of 
great mental powers and moral courage. 

It is worthy of remark, that the same class of men 
who resisted Mr. Dorr and the people of Rhode Island, 
in 1842, supported the notorious Hartford Convention, 
in 1812. His most bitter enemies belonged to that 
same old party, and in some instances were the very 
same individuals who once sat in that nocturnal con- 
clave. And, indeed, we might go farther back, and 
show that men of the same political character that 
opposed Washington, Greene, Adams, and Jefferson, 
when the American people were strugglijig against the 
tyranny of Great Britain, opposed Mr. Dorr and the 
people of Khode Island, when they were struggling 
.against the tyranny of their own state, maintained 
under the pretext of a British charter. 

The disease of which Mi\ Dorr died was Chronic 
Pemphigus. This affection is not so common in this 
country as in some others, yet when it has made its 
appearance here, in adult subjects, we believe it has 



THOMAS WILSON DORR. 291 

generally been induced or matured by confinement in 
damp or unwholesome situations. 

Mr. Dorr was imprisoned, in all, twenty months.! 
During his exile, and previous to his arrest in Provi- 
dence, he was constantly and anxiously engaged in phys- 
ical and intellectual exercises ; and, again, during his 
long harassing trial at Newport, in consequence of 
the illness of his principal advocate, he was obliged to 
labor incessantly in conjunction with his remaining 
counsel, in the management of his defence. The whole 
case was a novel one. He was compelled to take his 
trial among strangers, before a court whose every word 
and act evinced hostility towards him, and the most 
implacable of his enemies stood around, thirsting for 
his blood — they knew not why. Under all these 
embarrassing and heart-rending circumstances, he 
labored day and night in conducting his defence, and 
reporting the trial; and as soon as that judicial farce 
was over, he was immediately thrust into a filthy dun- 
geon, whose damp, sepulchral atmosphere was pregnant 
with death. As a stream suddenly dammed up soon 
recoils upon itself, so the confinement of Mr. Dorr 
shocked and deranged his system ; and although he was 
somewhat relieved for a time, by being allowed to walk 
in the corridor, yet the bad air of his prison cell, and 
the want of cheerful exercise, continued to exert their 
morbid influence upon him during the whole period of 
his incarceration, and at the moment of his liberation it 
was evident that his protracted imprisonment had 
wrought -fearful changes in his physical system. The 
muscles had lost their tone, the hepatic and chylopoietic 



292 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

viscera had become seriously deranged, and a Chronic 
Pemphigus supervened, under which he finally sank. 

There are few individuals who can long endure soli- 
tary imprisonment. In general, it is equivalent to a 
lingering death. The stillness of the grave creeps over 
the isolated victim encased within cold stone walls, and 
life goes out by solitary extinction. Mr. Dorr's bodily 
organization, his social and domestic habits, were illy 
adapted to such a condition, and if his confinement had 
been continued much longer he would doubtless have 
expired in prison. Although he was severely indis- 
posed at the time of his liberation, yet his friends in- 
dulged the fond hope that when he came to be released 
from that dark and noisome cell, and allowed to 
breathe pure air and take proper exercise, he might 
regain his health ; but they were disappointed. Not- 
withstanding every reasonable effort was made to im- 
prove his condition, he continued steadily to decline. 
By confinement his system had suffered irreparable 
morbid changes, and no human means could stay their 
progress. He bore his severe sufferings with his char- 
acteristic fortitude, and at last calmly sunk beneath the 
weight of his infirmities. He died in the city of Provi- 
dence, Dec. 27, 1854, aged forty-nine years. Being of 
Episcopal parentage, he was early initiated as a member 
of that church, and he continued steadfast in that faith 
to his last hour. At his request, a few days before his 
death, the Rev. Mr. Waterman, rector of St. Stephen's 
Church in Providence, gave him the sacrament. He 
died as he had lived, with an abiding confidence in the 
truths of Christianity. 



THOMAS WILSON! DORR. 293 

Let those who are disposed to impugn his motives 
and asperse his character, first cleanse their own gar- 
ments and cast the beams out of their own eyes, and 
then, if they can, they may proceed to point out the 
dark spots in his • character. The selfish, unthinking 
multitude may not recognize in him any unusual de- 
gree of moral fidelity ; it is by close examination and 
deep reflection that his character is best understood. 
As no one but an artist can judge so correctly of the 
beauty of a piece of sculpture or painting, so none but 
those possessed of high moral attainments themselves 
can fully appreciate the prominent traits in the char- 
acter of Mr. Dorr. But when that time does come, as 
come it must, when the prejudice against him, with all 
its bitterness and hatred, shall have fully passed away, 
mankind will see in him one of the most extraordinary 
examples of virtuous fidelity which the history of the 
world affords. 

2o* 



APPENDIX. 



CHARTER OF 1643, GRANTED UNDER THE 
AUTHORITY OF PARLIAMENT, 

The following is the first charter to the people of Rhode 
Island, incorporating them ^^by the name of the 
Incorporation of Providence Plantations in the Nar- 
ragansett Bay in New England, ^^ granted under the 
authority of the Parliament of England, in 1643, 
giving them *^ full power and authority to govern and 
rule themselves, ^^ &c. 

Whereas by an Ordinance of y* Lords and Comons 
now assembled in Parliament bearing date the 2d day 
of November Anno Dom. 1643. Robert Earlle of 
Warwick is constituted & ordained Governor in Chief 
& Lord high Admiral of all thos Islands and other 
Plantations inhabited and planted by or belonging to 
any of his Majesties y^ King of England subjects (or 
■w^^ hereafter may be inhabited and planted by or be- 
longing to them) w^^^^ y® bounds and upon y* Coasts of 
America, And whereas y® said Lords & Comons have 
thought fitt and thereby ordained, y* Phillipp Earle 
of Pembroke, Edward Earle of Manchester, William 
Vicont Say and Scale, Phillipp Lord Whorton, John 
Lord Roberts, Inembers of y® house of Peers, Sir Gilbert 
Garard, barrenct, Sir Arthur Helsrigge, Ban^^net, Sir 
Henry Vaune Junior Knight, Sir Benjamin Rudyerd, 

(296) 



29b ArFKKmx. 

Knight, John Pirn, Oliver Cromwell, Dennis Bondr 
Miles Corbett, Cornelius Holland, Sammuell Vasseli^ 
John Rolle and William Spitrstowe, Esquirese members- 
of y* house of Comons, should be Commissioners to 
joyne in aide & assistance w*^ y® said Earle. 

And whereas for the better governing & preserving 
of y* said Plantations it is thereby ordained, y* the 
aforesaid Govern'^' and comm'^^ or y® greater number of 
them shall have power and authority from time to time^. 
to nominate, appoint, & constitute, all such subordinat 
Go-vern''* Counselors, Commanders, officers, and agents^ 
as they shall judge to be best affected, and most fitt and 
serviceable to g^overn y® said Islands & Plantations, and 
to provid for, ordere, & dispose all things w^^ they shall 
from time to time find most iitt arid advantageouse for 
y® said Plantation, and for the better security of y® 
owners & inhabitants thereof to Assine ratify & con- 
firme, soe much of their afore mentioned a;uthority & 
power, and in such manner, & to such Parsons, as they 
shall Judge to be fitt, for y*^ better Governing & pre- 
serving of y® said Plantations & Islands from open, 
violence, prejudice,^ disturbance and distractions. And 
whereas their is a tract of Land in y*' Continent of 
America aforesaid called by y® name of y* Naragansett 
Bay, bordering North and Northest on the -Patten of y^ 
Massechusetts, East & Southeast on Plymouth Patten, 
south on y^ oation, and on y^ weast and Northweast By 
Indians called Nahoggansucks alias Narragansetts ; y^^ 
whole tract extending about twenty and five English 
miles, into y® Pecut river and Country, and whereas 
divers well affected and industrious English Inhabitants 
of y® Townes of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport^ 
in the tract aforesaid, have adventured to make a nearer 
neighborhood & sosiaty to & w*''' y® great body of the 
Narragansetts w^'^' may in time by y® blessing of GOD 
upon their endeavours lay a surer foundation of happi- 
ness to all America^ & have also purcha,sed, & are pur- 



Ai'rExl)ix. 



^97 



cLasing of & amonst y" said Natives, some otlicr places 
■vv*^^ may be convenient both for plantation, and also 
for Building of shipps, supply of pipe staves, & otliei* 
Marchandice ; And whereas y^ said English have repre- 
sented their desires to y® said Earle and Comm^^ to 
have their hopeful beginnings approved and contirmed 
by granting unto y™ a free charter of civel incorpora- 
tion and Gouvornment, y* they may order and govern 
their plantations, in such manner as to maintain justice, 
& peace both amongst themselves and towards almen, 
■vyth whom they shall have to doe ; In due consideration 
of y® Premises y*^ said Robert Earle of Warwick Gov- 
er'^'' in Chiefe, Lord High Admirall of y^ said Planta- 
tions, and y« greater Number of y^ said Commissionours^ 
whose names and seales are her under written and sub- 
joyned out of a desire to incourage y^ good beginnings 
of y® said Plantations, doe by y*" authority of y^ afore- 
said ordinance of Lords & comons give grant & confirm 
to y® aforesaid Inhabitants of y^ Towns of Providence, 
Portsmouth, and Newport, a free and absolute Charter, 
of civel incorporation, to be known, by y^ name of the 
Incorporation of Providence Plantations, in the Narra- 
ganset bay in New England, together w^^ full power 
and authority, to Govern and rule themselves, and such 
others as shall hereaftere inhabitt w^^'" any part of y^ 
said tract of Land by such a forme of Civel Govef'"'* 
as by voluntary consent of all or y^ greatest part of th"" 
shall be found most serviceable in their Estates and con- 
dition and to that end, to make and ordain such civel 
Laws and constitutions and to inflict such Punish™*^ 
uppon transgressors and for execution thereof soe to 
place & displace. Officers of Justice, as they or y® 
greatest part of y™ shall by free consent agree unto — 
Provided nevertheless y' y® said Laws, Constitutions 
and Punishments for y^ civell Govern™^ of y*^ said Plan- 
tation be conformable to y*^ Lawes of England, soe farre 
as y® nature Sc Constitution of y^ place will admitt ; 



298 APPENDIX. 

And always reserving to y® said Earle and Comm^ and 
there successors power and authority soe to dispose y® 
General Gover™* of y*^ as it stands in refferance to y® 
rest of y® Plantations in America, as they shall commis- 
sionate from time to time most conducing to y^ Generall 
good of y® said Plantations, y*^ Honour of his Magisty, 
& y® sarvice of this State, and y^ said Earll & Comm^"^ 
doe further authorice y^ aforesaid Inhabitants, for y® 
better transacting of there Publique affaires to make 
and use a Publique seale as y® knowne seale of Provi- 
dence Plantations in y^ Narragansetts Bay in New 
England, in Testimony whereof y^ said Pobert Earle of 
Warwick & comm^^ have hereunto set there hands and 
scales y® seventeenth day of March y® nineteenth year 
of y^ Paine of our Soveraine Lord King Charles and in 
y^ yeare of our Lord GOD 1643. 

EGBERT WARWICK. 

Phillip Pembrook, Say & Seale, P. Whartone, Ar- 
thur Helsrige, Cor. Holland, Hen. Vane, Sam Vassell, 
John Rool, Miles Corbet. 



CHARTER GRANTED BY KING CHARLES 11. 

Charles, the Second, by the grace of God, King of 
England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the 
faith, &c., to all to whom these presents shall come, 
greeting : Whereas we have been informed by the 
humble petition of our trusty and well-beloved subject, 
John Clarke, on the behalf of Benedict Arnold, William 
Brenton, William Coddington, Nicholas Easton, Wil- 
liam Boulston, John Porter, John Smith, Samuel Gor- 
ton, John Weeks, Roger Williams, Thomas Olney, 
Gregory Dexter, John Coggeshall, Joseph Clarke, 
Randall Holdcn, John Greene, John Roomc, Samuel 



APPENDIX. S99 

Wildbore, William Field, James Barker, Richard Tew, 
Thomas Harris, and William Dyre, and the rest of the 
purchasers and free inhabitants of our island, called 
Rhode Island, and the rest of the colony of Providence 
Plantations, in the Narragansett Bay, in New England, 
in America, that they, pursuing, with peaceable and loyal 
minds, their sober, serious, and religious intentions, of 
godly edifying themselves, and one another, in the holy 
Christian faith and worship, as they were persuaded ; 
together with the gaining over and conversion of the 
poor ignorant Indian natives, in those parts of America, 
to the sincere profession and obedience of the same faith 
and worship, did, not only by the consent and good 
encouragement of our royal progenitors, transport them- 
selves out of this kingdom of England into America, 
but also, since their arrival there, after their first settle- 
ment amongst other our subjects in those parts, for the 
avoiding of discord, and those many evils which were 
likely to ensue upon some of those our subjects not 
being able to bear, in these remote parts, their different 
apprehensions in religious concernments, and, in pur- 
suance of the aforesaid ends, did once again leave their 
desirable stations and habitations, and with excessive 
labor and travel, hazard and charge, did transplant 
themselves into the midst of the Indian natives, who, 
as we are informed, are the most potent princes and 
people of all that country ; where, by the good Provi- 
dence of God, from whom the Plantations have taken 
their name, upon their labor and industry, they have 
not only been preserved to admiration, but have in- 
creased and prospered, and are seized and possessed, by 
purchase and consent of the said natives, to their full 
content, of such lands, islands, rivers, harbors and 
roads, as are very convenient, both for plantations, 
and also for building of ships, supply of pipe staves, and 
other merchandise : and which lie very commodious, in 
many respects, for commerce, and to accommodate our 



SOO APPENDIX. 

southern plantations, and may much advance the trade 
of this our realm, and greatly enlarge the territories 
thereof; they having, by near neighborhood to and 
friendly society with the great body of the Narragansett 
Indians, given them encouragement, of their own "ac- 
cord, to subject themselves, their people, and lands 
unto us ; whereby, as is hoped, there may, in time, by 
the blessing of God upon their endeavors, be laid a sure 
foundation of happiness to all America : and whereas, 
in their humble address, they have freely declared, that 
it is much on their hearts (if they may be permitted) 
to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourish- 
ing civil state may stand and best be maintained, and 
that among our English subjects, with a full hberty in 
religious concernments ; and that true piety, rightly 
grounded upon gospel principles, will give the best and 
greatest security to sovereignty, and will lay in the 
hearts of men the strongest obligations to true loyalty : 
Now know ye, that we, being willing to encourage the 
hopeful undertaking of our said loyal and loving sub- 
jects, and to secure them in the free exercise and 
enjoyment of all their civil and religious rights, apper- 
taining to them as our loving subjects ; and to preserve 
unto them that liberty, in the true Christian faith and 
worship of God, which they have sought with so much 
travail, and with peaceable minds, and loyal subjection 
to our royal progenitors and ourselves, to enjoy : and 
because some of the people and inhabitants of the same 
colony cannot, in their private opinions, conform to the 
public exercise of religion, according to the liturgy, 
forms, and ceremonies of the Church of England, or 
take or subscribe the oaths and articles made and estab- 
lished in that behalf ; and for that the same, by reason 
of the remote distances of those places, will (as we 
hope) be no breach of the unity and uniformity estab- 
lished in this nation : Have therefore thought fit, and 
do hereby publish, grant, ordain, and declare, that our 



APPENDIX. 301 

royal will and pleasure is, that no person within the 
said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise 
molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, 
for any differences in opinion in matters of religion, and 
do not actually disturb the civil peace of our said col- 
ony ; but that all and every person and persons may, 
from time to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and 
fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments 
and consciences, in matters of religious concernments, 
throughout the tract of land hereafter mentioned, they 
behaving themselves peaceably and quietly, and not 
using this liberty to licentiousness and profaneness, nor 
to the civil injury or outward disturbance of others ; 
any law, statute, or clause, therein contained, or to be 
contained, usage or custom of this realm, to the con- 
trary hereof, in any wise, notwithstanding. And that 
they may be in the better capacity to defend themselves, 
in their just rights and liberties, against all the enemies 
of the Christian faith, and others, in all respects, we 
have further thought fit, and, at the humble petition of 
the persons aforesaid, are graciously pleased to declare, 
that they shall have and enjoy the benefit of our late 
act of indemnity and free pardon, as the rest of our 
subjects in other our dominions and territories have ; 
and to create and make them a body politic or corporate, 
w^th the powers and privileges hereinafter mentioned. 
And accordingly our will and pleasure is, and of our 
especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, 
we have ordained, constituted, and declared, and by 
these presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, do 
ordain, constitute, and declare, that they, the said Wil- 
liam Brenton, William Coddington, Nicholas Easton, 
Benedict Arnold, William Boulston, John Porter, Sam- 
uel Gorton, John Smith, John Weeks, Eoger Williams, 
Thomas Olney, Gregory Dexter, John Coggeshall, Jo- 
seph Clarke, Randall Holden, John Greene, John 
Roome, William Dyre, Samuel Wildbore, Richard Tew, 
26 



302 APPENDIX. 

William Field, Thomas Harris, James Barker, -— 

Rainsborrow, — Williams, and John Nickson, and 

all such others as now are, or hereafter shall be, ad- 
mitted and made free of the company and society of 
our colony of Providence Plantations, in the Narra- 
gansett Bay, in New England, shall be, from time to 
time, and forever hereafter, a body corporate and pol- 
itic, in fact and name, by the name of the Governor 
and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations, in New England, in Amer- 
ica ; and that, by the same name, they and their suc- 
cessors shall and may have perpetual succession, and 
shall and may be persons able and capable, in the law, 
to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, to an- 
swer and be answered unto, to defend and to be de- 
fended, in all and singular suits, causes, quarrels, mat- 
ters, actions, and things, of what kind or nature soever; 
and also to have, take, possess, acquire, and purchase 
lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any goods or 
chattels, and the same to lease, grant, demise, aliene, 
bargain, sell, and dispose of, at their own will and 
pleasure, as other our liege people of this our realm of 
England, or any corporation or body politic within the 
same, may lawfully do. And further, that they, the 
said Governor and Company, and their successors, shall 
and may, forever hereafter, have a common seal, to 
serve and use for all matters, causes, things, and affairs, 
whatsoever, of them and their successors ; and the 
same seal to alter, change, break, and make new, from 
time to time, at their will and pleasure, as they shall 
think fit. And further, we will and ordain, and by 
these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do de- 
clare and appoint that, for the better ordering and man- 
aging of the affairs and business of the said company, 
and their successors, there shall be one governor, one 
deputy governor, and ten assistants, to be from time to 
time constituted, elected, and chosen out of the freemen 



APPENDIX. 303 

of the said Company for the time being, in such manner 
and form as is hereafter in these presents expressed ; 
which said officers shall apply themselves to take care 
for the best disposing and ordering of the general 
business and affairs of and concerning the lands and 
hereditaments hereinafter mentioned to be granted, and 
the plantation thereof, and the government of the peo- 
ple there. And, for the better execution of our royal 
pleasure herein, we do, for us, our heirs and successors, 
assign, name, constitute, and appoint the aforesaid Ben- 
edict Arnold to be the first and present governor of 
the said Company, and the said William Brenton to be 
the deputy governor, and the said William Boulston, 
John Porter, Roger WilUams, Thomas Olney, John 
Smith, John Greene, John Coggeshall, James Barker, 
William Field, and Joseph Clarke, to be the ten present 
assistants of the said Company, to continue in the said 
several offices, respectively, until the first Wednesday 
which shall be in the month of May now next coming. 
And further, we will, and by these presents, for us, our 
heirs and successors, do ordain and grant that the gov- 
ernor of the said Company for the time being, or, in 
his absence, by occasion of sickness, or otherwise, by 
his leave and permission, the deputy governor for the 
time being, shall and may, from time to time, upon all 
occasions, give order for the assembling of the said 
Company and calling them together, to consult and ad- 
vise of the business and affairs of the said Company. 
And that forever hereafter, twice in every year — that 
is to say, on every first AVednesday in the month of 
May, and on every last Wednesday in October, or 
oftener in case it shall be requisite, — the assistants and 
such of the freemen of the said Company, not exceed- 
ing six persons for Newport, four persons for each of 
the respective towns of Providence, Portsmouth, and 
Warwick, and two persons for each other place, town, 
or city, who shall be, from time to time, thereunto 



304 APPENDIX. 

elected or deputed by the major part of the freemen of 
the respective towns or places for which they shall be 
so elected or deputed, shall have a general meeting or 
assembly, then and there to consult, advise, and deter- 
mine in and about the affairs and business of the said 
Company and Plantations. And further, we do, of our 
especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, 
give and grant unto the said Governor and Company of 
the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations, in New England, in America, and their 
successors, that the governor, or, in his absence, or by 
his permission, the deputy governor of the said Com- 
pany, for the time being, the assistants, and such of 
the freemen of the said Company as shall be so as afore- 
said elected or deputed, or so many of them as shall be 
present at such meeting or assembly as aforesaid, shall 
be called the General Assembly ; and that they, or the 
greatest part of them present, whereof the governor, 
or deputy governor, and six of the assistants, at least 
to be seven, shall have, and have hereby given and 
granted unto them, full power and authority, from time 
to time, and at all times hereafter, to appoint, alter, and 
change such days, times, and places of meeting and 
General Assembly as they shall think fit ; and to choose, 
nominate^ and appoint such and so many other j)ersons 
as they shall think jit, and shall be willing to accept the 
same, to he free of the said, Company and body politic, 
and them into the same to admit ; and to elect and con- 
stitute such offices and officers, and to grant such 
needful commissions, as they shall think fit and re- 
quisite for the ordering, managing, and despatching of 
the affairs of the said Governor and Company and their 
successors ; and, from time to time, to make, ordain, 
constitute, or repeal such laws, statutes, orders, and or- 
dinances, forms and ceremonies of government and ma- 
gistracy, as to them shall seem meet, for the good and 
welfare of the. said Company, and for the government 



A.PPENDIX. 505 

and -ordeiing of the lands and hereditaments hereinafter 
mentioned to be granted, and of the people that do, or 
at any time hereafter shall, inhabit or be within the 
same ; so as such laws, ordinances, and constitutions so 
made be not contrary and repugnant unto, but as near 
as may be, agreeable to the laws of this our realm of 
England, considering the nature and constitution of the 
place and people there, and also to appoint, order 
and direct, erect and settle, such places and courts of 
jurisdiction, for the hearing and determining of all 
actions, cases, matters, and things happening within the 
said colony and plantation, and which shall be in dis- 
pute and depending there, as they :shall think fit ; and 
also to distinguish and set forth the several names and 
titles, duties, powers, and limits of each court, office, 
and officer, superior and inferior ; and also to contrive 
and appoint such forms of oaths and attestations, not 
repugnantp but, as near as may be, agreeable, as afore- 
said, to the laws and statutes of this our realm, as are 
convenient and req^uisite, with respect to the due ad- 
ministration of justice and due execution and discharge 
of all offices and places of trust by the persons that 
shall be therein concerned ; and also to regulate and order 
the way and manner of all elections to offices and places of 
trust, and to prescribe, limit, and distinguish the numbers 
and bounds of all places, towns, or cities, within the lim- 
its and bounds hereinafter mentioned, and not herein par- 
ticularly named, who have, or shall have, the power of 
electing and sending of freemen to the said General As- 
sembly ; and also to order, dii*ect, and authorize the im- 
posing of lawful and reasonable fines, mulcts, imprison- 
ments, and executing other punishments, pecuniary and 
corporal, upon offenders and delinquents, according to the 
course of other corporations within this our kingdom of 
England ; and again to alter, revoke, annul, or par- 
don, under their common seal, or otherwise, such fines, 
mulcts, imprisonments, sentences, judgments, and con- 
26* 



306 APPEXMX. 

demnations, as sliall be thought fit ; and to direct, rule, 
order,, and dispose of all other matters and things, and 
particularly that which relates to the making of pur- 
chases of the native Indians, as to them shall seem 
meet ; whereby our said people and inhabitants in the 
said Plantations may be so religiously, peaceably, and 
civilly governed,, as that, by their good life and orderly 
conversation, they may win and invite the native In- 
dians of the country to the knowledge and obedience of 
the only true God and Saviour of mankind ; willing,, 
commanding, and requiring, and by these presents, for 
us, our heirs, and successors, ordaining and appointing 
that all such laws, statutes, orders, and ordinances, in- 
structions, impositions, and directions, as. shall be so 
made by the governor, deputy gc/vernory assistants, 
and freemen, or such number of them as aforesaid, and 
published in writing, under their common seal, shall be 
carefully and duly observed, kept, performed, and put 
in execution, accordingr to the true intent and meaninsr 
of the same. , And these our letters patent, or the du- 
plicate or exemplification thereof, shall be to all and 
every such ofiicer,, superior or inferior, from time to 
time, for the putting of the same orders, laws, statutes^ 
ordinances, instructions, and directions, in due execu- 
tion^ against us, our heirs and successors, a sufficient 
warrant and discharge. And further, our will and 
pleasure is, and we do hereby, for us, our heirs, and 
successors,, establish and ordain,, that yearly, once in the 
year, forever, hereafter, namely,, the aforesaid Wednes- 
day in May, and at the town of Newport,, or elsewhere, 
if urgent occasion do require, the governor, deputy 
governor, and assistants of the said Company, and 
other officers of the said Company, or such of them as 
the General Assembly shall think fit,, shall be, in the 
said General Court or Assembly to be held from that 
day or time, newly chosen for the year ensuing, by such 
greater part of the said Company^ for the time beings 



ArriiNDix. 307 

as shall be then and there pi-esent ; and if it shall hap- 
pen that the present governor, deputy governor, and 
assistants, by these presents appointed, or any such as 
shall hereafter be newly chosen into their rooms, or any 
of them, or any other the officers of the said Company, 
shall die or be removed from his or their several offices 
or places, before the said general day of election, 
(whom we do hereby declare, for any misdemeanor or 
default, to be removable by the governor, assistants, and 
Company, or such greater part of them, in any of the 
said public courts, to be assembled as aforesaid,) that 
then, and in every such case, it shall, and may be law- 
ful to and for the said governor, deputy governor, 
assistants, and Company aforesaid, or such greater part 
of them, so as to be assembled as is aforesaid, in any 
their assemblies, to proceed to a new election of one or 
more of their Company, in the room or place, rooms or 
places, of such officer or officers, so dying, removed, 
according to their discretions ; and immediately upon and 
after such election or elections made of sufch governor, 
deputy governor, assistant, or assistants, or any other 
officer of the said Company, in manner and form afore- 
said, the authority, office, and power, before given to the 
former governor, deputy governor, and other officer and 
officers, so removed, in wdiose stead and place new shall 
be chosen, shall, as to him and them, and every of them, 
respectively, cease and determine : Provided always, 
and our will and pleasure is, that as well such as are 
by these presents appointed to be the present governor, 
deputy governor, and assistants, of the said Company, 
as those that shall succeed them, and all other officers 
to be appointed and chosen as aforesaid, shall, before 
the undertaking the execution of the said offices and 
places respectively, give their solemn engagement, by 
oath, or otherwise,, for the due and faithful performance 
of their duties in their several offices and places, before 
such person or persons as are by these presents hereafter 



308 APPENDIX. 

appointed to take and receive the same^ that is to say : 
the said Benedict Arnold, who is hereinbefore nomi- 
nated and appointed the present governor of the said 
Company^ shall give the aforesaid engagement before 
William Brenton, or any two of the said assistants of the 
said Company ; unto whom we do by these presents 
give full power and authority to require and receive the 
same ; and the said William Brenton, who is hereby 
before nominated and appointed the present deputy 
governor of the said Company, shall give the aforesaid 
engagement before the said Benedict Arnold, ©r any two 
of the assistants of the said Company ; and unto whom 
we do by these presents give full power and authority 
to require and receive the same ; and the said William 
Boulston, John Porter, Koger Williams, Thomas 01- 
ney, John Smith, John Greene, John Coggeshall, 
James Barker, William Field, and Joseph Clarke, 
who are hereinbefore nominated and appointed the 
present assistants of the said Company, shall give 
the said engagement to their offices and places re- 
spectively belonging, before the said Benedict Arnold 
and William Brenton, or one of them ; to whom 
respectively we do hereby give full power and author- 
ity to require, administer, or receive the same : and 
further, our will and pleasure is, that all and every 
other future governor or deputy governor, to be elected 
and chosen by virtue of these presents, shall give the 
said engagement before two or more of the said assist- 
ants of the said Company for the time being; unto 
whom we do by these presents give full power and 
authority to require, administer, or receive the same : 
and the said assistants, and every of them, and all and 
every other officer or officers to be hereafter elected and 
chosen by virtue of these presents, from time to time, 
shall give the like engagements, to their offices and 
places respectively belonging, before the governor or 
deputy governor for the time being ; unto which said 



APPENDIX. 



309 



governor, or deputy governor, we do by these pres- 
ents give full power and authority to require, admin- 
ister, or receive the same accordingly. And we do 
likewise, for us, our heirs, and successors, give and 
grant unto the said Governor and Company, and their 
successors, by these presents, that, for the more peace- 
able and orderly government of the said Plantations, 
it shall and may be lawful for the governor, deputy 
governor, assistants, and all other officers and min- 
isters of the said Company, in the administration of 
justice, and exercise of government, in the said Plan- 
tations, to use, exercise, and put in execution, such 
methods, rules, orders, and directions, not being con- 
trary or repugnant to the laws and statutes of this our 
realm, as have been heretofore given, used, and accus- 
tomed, in such cases, respectively, to be put in practice, 
until at the next, or some other General Assembly, spe- 
cial provision shall be made and ordained in the cases 
aforesaid. And we do further, for us, our heirs, and succes- 
sors, give and grant unto the said Governor and Company, 
and their successors, by these presents, that it shall and 
may be lawful to and for the said governor, or in his 
absence, the deputy governor, and major part of the 
said assistants for the time being, at any time when the 
said General Assembly is not sitting, to nominate, ap- 
point, and constitute such and so many commanders, 
governors, and military officers as to them shall seem 
requisite for the leading, conducting, and training up- 
the inhabitants of the said Plantations in martial affairs, 
and for the defence and safeguard of the said Planta- 
tions ; and that it shall and may be lawful to and for 
all and every such commander, governor, and military 
officer, that shall be so as aforesaid, or by the governor, 
or, in his absence, the deputy governor and six of the 
said assistants, and major part of the freemen of the 
said Company present at any General Assemblies, nom- 
inated, appointed, and constituted according to the 



310 APPENDIX. 

tenor of his and their respective commissions and 
directions, to assemble, exercise in arms, martial array, 
and put in warlike posture the inhabitants of the said 
colony, for their special defence and safety ; and to lead 
and conduct the said inhabitants, and to encounter, ex- 
pulse, expel, and resist, by force of arms, as well by 
sea as by land, and also to kill, slay, and destroy, by all 
fitting ways, enterprises, and means whatsoever, all and 
every such person or persons as shall, at any time here- 
after, attempt or enterprise the destruction, invasion, 
detriment, or annoyance of the said inhabitants or Plan- 
tations ; and to use and exercise the law martial in 
such cases only as occasion shall necessarily require ; 
and to take or surprise, by all ways and means what- 
soever, all and every such person and persons, with 
their ship or ships, armor, ammunition, or other goods 
of such persons as shall, in hostile manner, invade or 
attempt the defeating of the said Plantation, or the hurt 
of the said Company and inhabitants ; and, upon just 
causes, to invade and destroy the native Indians, or 
other enemies of the said colony. Nevertheless, our 
will and pleasure is, and we do hereby declare to the 
rest of our colonies in New England, that it shall not 
be lawful for this our said colony of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations, in America, in New England, 
to invade the natives inhabiting within the bounds and 
limits of their said colonies, without the knowledge and 
consent of the said other colonies. And it is hereby 
declared, that it shall not be lawful to or for the rest of 
the colonies to invade or molest the native Indians, or 
any other inhabitants, inhabiting within the bounds 
and limits hereafter mentioned, (they having subjected 
themselves unto us, and being by us taken into our 
special protection,) without the knowledge and consent 
of the Governor and Company of our Colony of Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations. Also our will and 
pleasure is, and we do hereby declare unto all Christian 



APPENDIX. 311 

kings, princes, and states, that if any person, which 
shall hereafter be of the said Company or Plantation, 
or any other, by appointment of the said Governor and 
Company for the time being, shall, at any time or times 
hereafter, rob or spoil, by sea or land, or do any hurt 
or unlawful hostility to any of the subjects of us, our 
heirs or successors, or any of the subjects of any prince 
or state, being then in league with us, our heirs or 
successors, upon complaint of such injury done to any 
such prince or state, or their subjects, we, our heirs and 
successors, will make open proclamation within any 
parts of our realm of England, fit for that purpose, 
that the person or persons committing any such rob- 
bery or spoil shall, within the time limited by such 
proclamation, make full restitution or satisfaction of all 
such injuries done or committed, so as the said prince, 
or others so complaining, may be fully satisfied and 
contented ; and if the said person or persons who shall 
commit any such robbery or spoil, shall not make sat- 
isfaction, accordingly, within such time, so to be lim- 
ited, that then we, our heirs and successors, will put 
such person or persons out of our allegiance and pro- 
tection ; and that then it shall and may be lawful and 
free for all princes or others to prosecute, with hostility, 
such offenders, and every of them, their and every of 
their procurers, aiders, abettors, and counsellors, in 
'that behalf : Provided, also, and our express will and 
pleasure is, and we do, by these presents, for us, our 
heirs and successors, ordain and appoint, that these 
presents shall not, in any manner, hinder any of our 
loving subjects, whatsoever, from using and exercising 
the trade of fishing upon the coast of New England, in 
America; but that they, and every or any of them, 
shall have full and free power and liberty to continue 
and use the trade of fishing upon the said coast, in any 
of the seas thereunto adjoining, or any arms of the seas, 
•or salt water, rivers and creeks, where they have been 



Sl^ APPENDIX. 

accustomed to fish ; and to build and set upon tlie waste 
land belonging to the said colony and plantations, such 
wharves, stages, and work houses, as shall be necessary 
for the salting, drying, and keeping of their fish, to be 
taken or gotten upon that coast. And further, for the 
encouragement of the inhabitants of our said colony of 
Providence Plantations to set upon the business of tak- 
ing whales, it shall be lawful for them, or any of them, 
having struck whale, dubertus, or other great fish, it 
or them to pursue unto any part of that coast, and into 
any bay, river, cove, creek, or shore, belonging thereto, 
and it or them, upon the said coast, or in the said bay, 
river, cove, creek, or shore, belonging thereto, to kill 
and order for the best advantage, without molestation, 
they making no wilful waste or spoil ; any thing in 
these presents contained, or any other matter or thing, 
to the contrary notwithstanding. And further also, we 
are graciously pleased, and do hereby declare, that if 
any of the inhabitants of our said colony do set upon, 
the planting of vineyards, (the soil and climate both 
seeming naturally to concur to the production of wines,) 
or be industrious in the discovery of fishing banks, in 
or about the said colony, we will, from time to time, 
give and allow all due and fitting encouragement 
therein, as to others in cases of like nature. And fur- 
ther, of our more ample grace, certain knowledge, and 
mere motion, we have given and granted, and by these 
presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do give and 
grant, unto the said Governor and Company of the 
English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations, in the Narragansett Bay, in New England, in 
America, and to every inhabitant there, and to every 
person and persons trading thither, and to every such 
person or persons as are or shall be free of the said col- 
ony, full power and authority, from time to time, and at 
all times hereafter, to take, ship, transport, and carry 
away, out of any of our realms and dominions, for and 



APPENDIX. 313 

towards the plantation and defence of the said colony, 
such and so many of our loving subjects and strangers 
as shall or will willingly accompany them in and to 
their said colony and plantation ; except such person or 
persons as are or shall be therein restrained by us, our 
heirs and successors, or any law or statute of this realm ; 
and also to ship and transport all and all manner of 
goods, chattels, merchandises, and other things whatso- 
ever, that are or shall be useful or necessary for the 
said Plantations, and defence thereof, and usually 
transported, and not prohibited by any law or statute 
of this our realm ; yielding and paying unto us, our 
heirs and successors, such the duties, customs, and subsi- 
dies, as are or ought to be paid or payable for the same. 
And further, our will and pleasure is, and we do, for 
us, our heirs and successors, ordain, declare, and grant, 
unto the said Governor and Company, and their succes- 
sors, that all and every the subjects of us, our heirs 
and successors, which are already planted and settled 
within our said colony of Providence Plantations, or 
which shall hereafter go to inhabit within the said col- 
ony, and all and every of their children, which have 
been born there, or which shall happen hereafter to be 
born there, or on the sea, going thither, or returning 
from thence, shall have and enjoy all liberties and im- 
munities of free and natural subjects within any the 
dominions of us, our heirs or successors, to all intents, 
constructions, and purposes, whatsoever, as if they, and 
every of them, were born within the realm of England. 
And further, know ye, that we, of our more abundant 
grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, have given, 
granted, and confirmed, and, by these presents, for us, 
our heirs and successors, do give, grant, and confirm, 
unto the said Governor and Company, and their suc- 
cessors, all that part of our dominions in New England, 
in America, containing the Nahantick and Nanhyganset, 
alias Narragansett Bay^ and countries and parts adjacent. 



314 APPENDIX. 

bounded on the west, or westerly, to the middle or chan- 
nel of a river there, commonly called and known by the 
name of Pawcatuck, alias Pawcawtuck Eiver, and so 
along the said river, as the greater or middle stream 
thereof reacheth or lies up into the north country, north- 
Avard, unto the head thereof, and from thence, by a 
straight line drawn due north, until it meets with the 
south line of "the Massachusetts colony ; and on the 
north, or northerly, by the aforesaid south or southerly 
line of the Massachusetts colony or plantation, and ex- 
tending towards the east, or eastwardly, three English 
miles to the east and north-east of the most eastern and 
north-eastern parts of the aforesaid Narragansett Bay, as 
the said bay lieth or extendeth itself from the ocean on 
the south, or southwardly, unto the mouth of the river 
which runneth toward the town of Providence, and from 
thence along the eastwardly side or bank of the said 
river (higher called by the name of Seacunck River) up 
to the falls called Patuckett Falls, being the most west- 
wardly line of Plymouth colony, and so from the said 
falls in a straight line, due north, until it meet with the 
aforesaid line of the Massachusetts colony, and bounded 
on the south by the ocean ; and, in particular, the lands 
belonging to the towns of Providence, Pawtuxet, 
Warwick, Misquammacock, alias Pawcatuck, and the 
rest upon the main land in the tract aforesaid, together 
with Rhode Island, Block Island, and all the rest of the 
islands and banks in the Narragansett Bay, and bor- 
dering upon the coast of the tract aforesaid, (Fisher's 
Island only excepted,) together with all firm lands, soils, 
grounds, havens, ports, rivers, waters, fishings, mines 
royal, and all other mines, minerals, precious stones, 
quarries, woods, wood grounds, rocks, slates, and all 
and singular other commodities, jurisdictions, royalties, 
privileges, franchises, preeminences, and hereditaments 
whatsoever, within the said tract, bounds, lands, and 
islands aforesaid, or to them or any of them belongings 



APPENDIX. 315 

or in any wise appertaining : To have and to hold the 
same unto the said Governor and Company and their 
successors forever, upon trust, for the use and benefit of 
themselves and their associates, freemen of the said col- 
ony, their heirs and assigns, to be holden of us, oar 
heirs and successors, as of the manor of East Greenwich, 
in our county of Kent, in free and common soccage, and 
not in capite, nor by knight service ; yielding and pay- 
ing therefor to us, our heirs and successors, only the 
fifth part of all the ore of gold and silver which, from 
time to time, and at all times hereafter, shall be there 
gotten, had, or obtained, in lieu and satisfaction of all 
services, duties, fines, forfeitures, made or to be made, 
claims and demands whatsoever, to be to us, our heirs 
or successors, therefor or thereout rendered, made, or 
paid ; any grant, or clause in a late grant, to the Gov- 
ernor and Company of Connecticut Colony, in America, 
to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. 
The aforesaid Pawcatuck River having been yielded, 
after much debate, for the fixed and certain bounds 
between these our said colonies, by, the agents thereof, 
who have also agreed that the said Pawcatuck River 
shall be also called alias Norrogansett or Narrogansett 
River ; and, to prevent future disputes, that otherwise 
might arise thereby, forever hereafter shall be construed, 
deemed, and taken to be the Narrogansett River in our 
late grant to Connecticut colony mentioned as the east- 
erly bounds of that colony. And further, our will and 
pleasure is, that, in all matters of public controversy, 
which may fall out between our colony of Providence 
Plantations and the rest of our colonies in New England, 
it shall and may be lawful to and for the Governor and 
Company of the said colony of Providence Plantations, 
to make their appeals therein to us, our heirs and suc- 
cessors, for redress in such cases, within this our realm 
of England ; and that it shall be lawful to and for the 
inhabitants of the said colony of Providence Plantations, 



316 APPENDIX. 

without let or molestation, to pass and repass, with free- 
dom, into and through the rest of the English colonies, 
upon their lawful and civil occasions, and to converse 
and hold commerce and trade with such of the inhabit- 
ants of our other English colonies as shall be willing to 
admit them thereunto, they behaving themselves peace- 
ably among them ; any act, clause, or sentence, in any 
of the said colonies provided, or that shall be provided, 
to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. And lastly, 
we do for us, our heirs and successors, ordain and grant 
unto the said Governor and Company, and their succes- 
sors, by these presents, that these our letters patent shall 
be firm, good, effectual, and available in all things in 
the law, to all intents, constructions, and purposes what- 
soever, according to our true intent and meaning here- 
inbefore declared ; and shall be construed, reputed, and 
adjudged in all cases most favorably on the behalf, and 
for the best benefit and behoof, of the said Governor 
and Company, and their successors ; although express 
mention of the true yearly value or certainty of the 
premises, or any of them, or of any other gifts or grants 
by us, or by any of our progenitors or predecessors, 
heretofore made to the said Governor and Company of 
the English colony of Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations, in the Narragansett Bay, New England, in 
America, in these presents is not made, or any statute, 
act, ordinance, provision, proclamation, or restriction, 
heretofore had, made, enacted, ordained, or provided, 
or any other matter, cause, or thing whatsoever, to the 
contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. In wit- 
ness whereof, we have caused these our letters to be 
made patent. Witness ourself at Westminster, the 
eighth day of July, in the fifteenth year of our reign. 
By the King : 

HOWAED. 



APPENDIX. 317 

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF RHODE 
ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, 

ADOPTED BY THE PEOPLE, DEC. 27, 28, & 29, 1841. 

We, the people of the State of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations, grateful to Almighty God for 
his blessing vouchsafed to the " lively experiment " of 
religious and political freedom here " held forth " by 
our venerated ancestors, and earnestly imploring the 
favor of his gracious providence towards this our 
attempt to secure upon a permanent foundation the 
advantages of well-ordered and rational liberty, and to 
enlarge and transmit to our successors the inheritance 
that we have received, do ordain and establish the fol- 
lowing constitution of government for this state. 

Art. I. — Declaration of Principles and Rights. 

1. In the spirit and in the words of Roger Williams, 
the illustrious founder of this state, and of his venerated 
associates, we declare " that this government shall be a 
democracy," or government of the people, " by the 
major consent " of the same, " only in civil things." 
The will of the people shall be expressed by represen- 
tatives freely chosen, and returning at fixed periods to 
their constituents. This state shall be, and forever 
remain, as in the design of its founder, sacred to " soul 
liberty," to the rights of conscience, to freedom of 
thought, of expression, and of action, as hereinafter set 
forth and secured. 

2. All men are created free and equal, and are 
endowed by their Creator with certain natural, inherent, 
and inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, 
the acquisition of property, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness. Government cannot create or bestow these rights, 

27* 



318 APPENDIX. 

which are the gift of God ,• but it is instituted for the 
stronger and surer defence of the same^ that men may 
safely enjoy the rights of Hfe and liberty, securely pos- 
sess and transmit property, and, so far as laws avail, 
may be successful in the pursuit of happiness. 

3. All political power and sovereignty are originally 
vested in, and of right belong to, the people. All free 
governments are founded in their authoiity, and are 
established for the greatest good of the whole number. 
The people have, therefore, an unalienable and indefea- 
sible right, in their original, sovereign, and unlimited 
capacity, to ordain and institute government, and in the 
same capacity to alter, reform, or totally change the 
same, whenever their safety or happiness requires. 

4. No favor or disfavor ought to be shown, in legis- 
lation, toward any man, or party, or society, or religious 
denomination. The laws should be made not for the 
good of the few, but of the many ; and the burdens of 
the state ought to be fairly distributed among its citizens. 

5. The diffusion of useful knowledge, and the culti- 
vation of a sound morality in the fear of God, being of 
the first importance in a republican state, and indispen- 
sable to the maintenance of its liberty, it shall be an 
imperative duty of the legislature to promote the estab- 
lishment of free schools, and to assist in the support of 
public education. 

6. Every person in this state ought to find a certain 
remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries 
or wrongs which may be done to his rights of person, 
property, or character. He ought to obtain right and 
justice freely and without purchase, completely and 
without denial, promptly and without delay, conforma- 
bly to the laws. 

7. The right of the people to be secure in their per- 
sons, houses, papers, and possessions, against unreason- 
able searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and 
no warrant shall issue but on complaint in writing upon 



APPENDIX. 319 

probable cause, supported by oath or afErmation, and 
describing as nearly as may be the place to be searched, 
and the person or things to be seized, 

8. No person shall be held to answer to a capital 
or other infamous charge, unless on indictment by a 
grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval 
forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time 
of war or public danger. No person shall be tried, 
after an acquittal, for the same crime or offence. 

9. Every man being presumed to be innocent until 
pronounced guilty by the law, all acts of severity, that 
are not necessary to secure an accused person, ought to 
be repressed. 

10. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor exces- 
sive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments 
inflicted ; and all punishments ought to be proportioned 
to the offence. 

11. All prisoners shall be bailable upon sufficient 
surety, unless for capital offences, when the proof is 
evident or the presumption groat. The privilege of the 
writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless 
when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety 
shall require it. 

1^. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall 
have the privilege of a speedy and pubUc trial, by an 
impartial jury; be informed of the nature and cause of 
the accusation ; be confronted with the witnesses against 
him; have compulsory process to obtain them in his 
favor, and at the public expense, when necessary ; have 
the assistance of counsel in his defence, and be at liberty 
to speak for himself. Nor shall he be deprived of his 
life, liberty, or property, unless by the judgment of his 
peers, or the law of the land. 

13. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, 
and in all criminal cases the jury shall judge both of 
the law and of the facts. 

14, Any person in this state, who may be claimed to 



3^0 AFPENCrX. 

be held to labor or service, under the laws of any othef 
state, territory, or district, shall be entitled to a jury 
trial, to ascertain the yalidity of such claim. 

15. No man in a court of common law shall be 
required to criminate himself. 

16. Betrospective laws, civil and criminal^ are unjust 
and 02?pressive, and shall not be made. 

17. The people have a right to assemble in a peacea- 
ble manner, without molestation or re&traint, to consult 
upon the public welfare ; a right to give instructions to 
their senators and representatives ; and a right to apply 
to those invested with the powers of government for 
redress of grievances, for the repeal of injurious laws.^ 
for the correction of faults of administration, and for all 
other purposes. 

18. The liberty of the press being essential to the 
security of freedom in a state, any citizen may publish 
his sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the 
abuse of that liberty ; and in all trials for libel, both 
civil and criminal, the truth, spoken from good motives^ 
and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defence to 
the person charged. 

19. Private property shall not be taken for public 
uses without just compensation, nor unless the public 
good require it ; nor under any circumstances until com- 
pensation shall have been made, if required, 

20. .The military shall always be held in strict sub- 
ordination to the civil authority. 

21. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered 
in any house, without the consent of the owner ; nor in 
time of war, but in manner to be prescribed by law. 

22. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind 
free, and all attempts to influence it by temporal pun- 
ishments, or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend to 
beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness ; and whereas 
a principal object of our venerated ancestors in theij; 
migration to this country, and their settlement of this 



APPENDIX. 321 

state, was, as they expressed it, to hold forth a lively 
experiment, that a flourishing civil state may stand, and 
be best maintained, with full liberty in religious con- 
cernments : We therefore declare that no man shall be 
compelled to frequent or support any religious wor- 
ship, place, or ministry whatsoever, ^or be enforced, 
restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, 
nor disqualified from holding any office, nor otherwise 
suffer, on account of his religious belief | and that all 
men shall be free to profess, and by argument to main- 
tain, their opinions in matters of religion ; and that the 
same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their 
civil capacities ; and that all other religious rights and • 
privileges of the people of this state, as now enjoyed, 
shall remain inviolate and inviolable. 

2S. No witness shall be called in question before the 
legislature, nor in any court of this state, nor before 
any magistrate or other person authorized to administer 
an oath or affirmation, for his or her religious belief, or 
opinions, or any part thereof; and no objection to a 
witness, on the ground of his or her religious opinions, 
shall be entertained or received. 

24. The citizens shall continue to enjoy, and freely 
exercise, all the rights of fishery, and privileges of the 
shore, to which they have been heretofore entitled under 
the charter and usages of this state. 

25. The enumeration of the foregoing rights shall 
not be construed to impair nor deny others retained by 
the people. 

Art. II. — Of Electors and the Eight of Suffrage. 

1. Every white male citizen of the United States, of 
the age of twenty-one years, who has resided in this 
state for one year, and in any town, city, or district of 
the same for six months, next preceding the election at 
which he offers to vote, shall be an elector of all officei'S 



32% APPENDIX. 

who are elected, or may hereafter be made eligible, by 
the people. But persons in the military, naval, or 
marine service of the United States, shall not be con- 
sidered as having such established residence, by being 
stationed in any garrison, barrack, or military place in 
any town or city in this state. 

2. Paupers and persons under guardianship, insane, 
or lunatic, are excluded from the electoral right ; and 
the same shall be forfeited on conviction of bribery, 
forgery, perjury, theft, or other infamous crime, and 
shall not be restored unless by an act of the General 
Assembly. 

S. No person who is excluded from voting, for want 
of the qualification first named in section first of this 
article, shall be taxed, or be liable to do mihtary duty ; 
provided that nothing in said first article shall be so 
construed as to exempt from taxation any property or 
persons now liable to be taxed. 

4. No elector who is not possessed of, and assessed 
for, ratable property in his own right, to the amount of 
one hundred and fifty dollars, or who shall have neg- 
lected or refused to pay any tax assessed upon him, in. 
any town, city, or district, for one year preceding the 
town, city, ward, or district meeting at which he shall 
off'er to vote, shall be entitled to vote on any question 
of taxation, or the expenditure of any public moneys in 
such town, city, or district, until the same be paid. 

5. In the city of Providence, and other cities, no 
person shall be eligible to the office of mayor, alderman, 
or common councilman, who is not taxed, or who shall 
have neglected or refused to pay his tax, as provided in 
the preceding section. 

6. The voting for all officers chosen by the people, 
except town or city officers, shall be by ballot ; that is 
to say, by depositing a written or printed ticket in the 
ballot box, without the name of the voter written 
thereon. Town or city officers shall be chosen by ballot. 



APPENDIX. 

on the demand of any two persons entitled to vote for 
the same. 

7. There shall be a strict registration of all qualified 
voters in the towns and cities of the state ; and no per- 
son shall be permitted to vote, whose name has not 
been entered upon the list of voters before the polls are 
opened. 

8. The General Assembly shall pass all necessary 
laws for the prevention of fraudulent voting by persons 
not having an actual, permanent residence, or home, in 
the state, or otherwise disqualified according to this con- 
stitution ; for the careful registration of all voters, pre- 
viously to the time of voting ; for the prevention of 
frauds upon the ballot box ; for the preservation of the 
purity of elections ; and for the safe-keeping and accu- 
rate counting of the votes ; to the end that the will of 
the people may be freely and fully expressed, truly as- 
certained, and eflTectually exerted, without intimidation, 
suppression, or unnecessary delay. 

9. The electors shall be exempted from arrest on days 
of election, and one day before, and one day after the 
same, except in cases of treason, felony, or breach of 
the peace. 

10. No person shall be eligible to any office by the 
votes of the people, who does not possess the qualifica- 
tions of an elector. 



Art. hi. -—Of the Distribution of Powers. 

1. The powers of the government shall be distributed 
into three departments — the legislative, the executive, 
and the judicial. 

2. No person or persons connected with one of these 
departments shall exercise any of the powers belonging 
to either of the others, except in cases herein directed 
or permitted. 



Art. IV. — Of the Legislative Department. 

1. The legislative power shall be vested in two dis- 
tinct Houses : the one to be called the House of Rep- 
resentatives, the other the Senate, and both together the 
General Assembly. The concurrent votes of the two 
Houses shall be necessary to the enactment of laws ; 
and the style of their laws shall be : " Be it enacted by 
the General Assembly, as follows." 

2. No member of the General Assembly shall be 
eligible to any civil office under the authority of the 
state, durinsf the term for which he shall have been 
elected. 

3. If any representative, or senator, in the General 
Assembly of this state, shall be appointed to any office 
under the government of the United States, and shall 
accept the same, after his election as such senator or 
representative, his seat shall thereby become vacant. 

4. Any person who holds an office under the govern- 
ment of the United States may be elected a member of 
the General Assembly, and may hold his seat therein, 
if, at the time of his taking his seat, he shall have re- 
signed said office, and shall declare the same on oath, or 
affirmation, if required. 

5. No member of the General Assembly shall take 
any fees, be of counsel or act as advocate in any case 
pending before either branch of the General Assembly, 
under penalty of forfeiting his seat, upon due proof 
thereof. 

6. Each House shall judge of the election and quali- 
fications of its members ; and a majority of all the 
members of each House, whom the towns and senato- 
rial districts are entitled to elect, shall constitute a 
quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may ad- 
journ from day to day, and may compel the attendance 
of absent members, in such manner, and under such 
penalties, as each House may have previously pre- 
scribed. 



APPENDIX. 325 

7. Each House may determine the rules of its pro- 
ceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, 
and, with the concurrence of two thirds of the mem- 
bers elected, expel a member ; but not a second time 
for the same cause. 

8. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceed- 
ings, and publish the same when required by one fifth 
of its members. The yeas and nays of the members of 
either House shall, at the desire of any five members 
present, be entered on the journal. 

9. Neither House shall, without the consent of the 
other, adjourn for more than two days, nor to any other 
place than that at which the General Assembly is hold- 
ing its session. 

10. The senators and representatives shall, in all 
cases of civil process, be privileged from arrest during 
the session of the General Assembly, and for two days 
before the commencement, and two days after the ter- 
mination, of any session thereof. For any speech in 
debate in either House, no member shall be called in 
question in any other place. 

11. The civil and military officers, heretofore elected 
in grand committee, shall hereafter be elected annually 
by the General Assembly, in joint committee, com- 
posed of the two Houses of the General Assembly, ex- 
cepting as is otherwise provided in this constitution ; 
and excepting the captains and subalterns of the militia, 
who shall be elected by the ballots of the members com- 
posing their respective companies, in such manner as 
the General Assembly may prescribe ; and such officers, 
so elected, shall be approved of and commissioned by 
the governor, who shall determine their rank ; and, if 
said companies shall neglect or refuse to make such 
elections, after being duly notified, then the governor 
shall appoint suitable persons to fill such offices. 

12. Every bill and every resolution requiring the 
concurrence of the two Houses, (votes of adjournment 

28 



326 APPENDIX. 

excepted,) which shall have passed both Houses of the 
General Assembly, shall be presented to the governor 
for his revision. If he approve of it, he shall sign and 
transmit the same to the secretary of state ; but if not, 
he shall return it to the House in which it shall have 
originated, with his objections thereto, which shall be 
entered at large on their journal. The House shall 
then proceed to reconsider the bill ; and if, after such 
reconsideration, that House shall pass it by a majority 
of all the members elected, it shall be sent, with the ob- 
jections, to the other House, which shall also reconsider 
it ; and, if approved by that House, by a majority of all 
the members elected, it shall become a law. If the bill 
shall not be returned by the governor within forty- 
eight hours (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been 
presented to him, the same shall become a law, in like 
manner as if he had signed it, unless the General As- 
sembly, by their adjournment, prevent its return ; in 
which case, it shall not be a law. 

13. There shall be two sessions of the General As- 
sembly in every year ; one session to be held at New- 
port, on the first Tuesday of June, for the organization 
of the government, the election of officers, and for 
other business ; and one other session on the first Tues- 
day of January, to be held at Providence, in the first 
year after the adoption of this constitution, and in every 
second year thereafter. In the intermediate years, the 
January session shall be forever hereafter held in the 
counties of Washington, Kent, or Bristol, as the Gen- 
eral Assembly may determine before their adjournment 
in June. 

Art. V. — Of the House of Representatives. . 

1. The House of Representatives shall consist of 
members chosen by the electors in the several towns 
and cities, in their respective town and ward meetings, 
annually. 



APPENDIX. 327 

2. The towns and cities shall severally be entitled to 
elect members according to the apportionment which 
follows, viz. : Newport to elect five ; Warwick, four ; 
Smithficld, five ; Cumberland, North Providence, and 
Scituate, three ; Portsmouth, AVesterly, New Shoreham, 
North Kingstown, South Kingstown, East Greenwich, 
Glocester, West Greenwich, Coventry, Exeter, Bristol, 
Tiverton, Little Compton, Warren, Eichmond, Crans- 
ton, Charlestown, Hopkinton, Johnston, Foster, and 
Burrillville, to elect two ; and Jamestown, Middletown, 
and Barrington, to elect one. 

3. In the city of Providence, there shall be six rep- 
resentative districts, which shall be the six wards of 
said city ; and the electors resident in said districts, for 
the term of three months next preceding the election at 
which they offer to vote, shall be entitled to elect two 
representatives for each district. 

4. The General Assembly, in case of great inequal- 
ity in the population of the wards of the city of Provi- 
dence, may cause the boundaries of the six representative 
districts therein to be so altered as to include in each 
district, as nearly as may be, an equal number of in- 
habitants. 

5. The House of Representatives shall have authority 
to elect their own speaker, clerks, and other officers. The 
oath of office shall be administered to the speaker by 
the secretary of state, or, in his absence, by the attor- 
ney general. 

6. Whenever the seat of a member of the House of 
Kepresentatives shall be vacated by death, resignation, 
or otherwise, the vacancy may be filled by a new elec- 
tion. 

Art. VI. — Of the Senate. 

1. The state shall be divided into twelve senatorial 
districts ; and each district shall be entitled to one sen- 
ator, who shall be annually chosen by the electors in his 
district. 



328 APPENDIX. 

2. The first, second, and third representative districts 
in the city of Providence, shall constitute the first sena- 
torial district ; the fourth, fifth, and sixth representative 
districts in said city, the second district ; the town of 
Smithfield, the third district ; the towns of North Prov- 
idence and Cumberland, the fourth district ; the towns 
of Scituate, Glocester, Burrillville, and Johnston, the 
fifth district; the towns of Warwick and Cranston, the 
sixth district ; the towns of East Greenwich, West 
Greenwich, Coventry, and Foster, the seventh district ; 
the towns of Newport, Jamestown, and New Shore- 
ham, the eighth district ; the towns of Portsmouth, 
Middletown, Tiverton, and Little Compton, the ninth 
district; the towns of North Kingstown and South 
Kingstown, the tenth district ; the towns of Westerly, 
Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond, and Hopkinton, the 
eleventh district ; the towns of Bristol, Warren, and 
Barrington, the twelfth district. 

3. The lieutenant governor shall be, by virtue of his 
office, president of the Senate ; and shall have a right, 
in case of an equal division, to vote in the same ; and 
also to vote in joint committee of the two Houses. 

4. When the government shall be administered by 
the lieutenant governor, or he shall be unable to attend 
as president of the Senate, the Senate shall elect one of 
their own members president of the same. 

5. Vacancies in the Senate, occasioned by death, res- 
ignation, or otherwise, may be filled by a new election. 

6. The secretary of state shall be, by virtue of his 
office, secretary of the Senate. 

Art. VII. — Of Impeachments. 

1. The House of Representatives shall have the sole 
power of impeachment. 

2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate ; 
and when sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath 



APPENDIX. S29 

or affirmation. No person shall be convicted, except 
by a vote of two thirds of the members elected. When 
the governor is impeached, the chief justice of the Su- 
preme Court shall preside, with a casting vote in all 
preliminary questions. 

3. The governor, and all other executive and judicial 
officers, shall be liable to impeachment ; but judgment, 
in such cases, shall not extend further than to removal 
from office. The party convicted shall, nevertheless, be 
liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to 
law. 

Art. VIII. — On the Executive Department. 

1. The chief executive power of this state shall be 
vested in a governor, who shall be chosen by the elec- 
tors, and shall hold his office for one year, and until his 
successor be duly qualified. 

2. No person holding any office or place under the 
United States, this state, any other of the United States, 
or any foreign power, shall exercise the office of gov- 
ernor. 

3. He shall take care that the laws are faithfully ex- 
ecuted. 

4. He shall be commander-in-chief of the military 
and naval forces of the state, except when called into 
the actual service of the United States ; but he shall 
not march nor convey any of the citizens out of the 
state, without their consent, or that of the General As- 
sembly, unless it shall become necessary in order to 
march or transport them from one part of the state to 
another, for the defence thereof. 

5. He shall appoint all civil and military officers 
whose appointment is not by this constitution, or shall 
not by law be otherwise provided for. 

6. He shall, from time to time, inform the General 
Assembly of the condition of the state, and recommend 

28* 



330 APPENDIX, 

to their consideration such measures as lie may deem 
expedient. 

7. He may require from any military officer, or any 
officer in the executive department, information upon 
any subject relating to the duties of his office. 

8. He shall have power to remit forfeitures and pen- 
alties, and to grant reprieves, commutation of punish- 
ments, and pardons after conviction, except in cuses of 
impeachment. 

9. The governor shall, at stated times, receive for his 
services a compensation which shall not be increased nor 
diminished during his continuance in office. 

10. There shall be elected, in the same manner as is 
provided for the election of governor, a lieutenant gov- 
ernor, who shall continue in office for the same term of 
time. Whenever the office of governor shall become 
vacant by death, resignation, removal from office, or 
otherwise, the lieutenant governor shall exercise the 
office of governor until another governor shall be duly 
qualified. 

11. AYhenever the offices of governor and lieutenant 
governor shall both become vacant, by death, resigna- 
tion, removal from office, or otherwise, the president of 
the Senate shall exercise the office of governor until a 
governor be duly qualified ; and should such vacancies oc- 
cur during a recess of the General Assembly, and there be 
no president of the Senate, the secretary of state shall, 
by proclamation, convene the Senate, that a president 
may be chosen to exercise the office of governor. 

12. Whenever the lieutenant governor or president 
of the Senate shall exercise the office of governor, he 
shall receive the compensation of governor only ; and 
his duties as president of the Senate shall cease while 
he shall continue to act as governor ; and the Senate 
shall fill the vacancy by an election from their own 
body. 

13. In case of a disagreement between the two 



APPENDIX. 331 

Houses of the General Assembly respecting the time or 
place of adjournment, the person exercising the office of 
governor may adjourn them to such time or place as he 
shall think proper; provided that the time of adjourn- 
ment shall not be extended beyond the first day of the 
next stated session. 

14. The person exercising the office of governor may, in 
cases of special necessity, convene the General Assem- 
bly at any town or city in this state at any other time 
than hereinbefore provided. And, in case of danger 
from the prevalence of epidemic or contagious diseases, 
or from other circumstances, in the place in which the 
General Assembly are next to meet, he may, by procla- 
mation, convene the Assembly at any other place within 
the state. 

15. A secretary of state, a general treasurer, and 
an attorney general, shall also be chosen annually, in 
the same manner, and for the same time, as is herein 
provided respecting the governor. The duties of these 
officers shall be the same as are now, or may hereafter 
be, prescribed by law. Should there be a failure to 
choose either of them, or should a vacancy occur in 
either of their offices, the General Assembly shall fill 
the place by an election in joint committee. 

16. The electors in each county shall, at the annual 
elections, vote for an inhabitant of the county to be 
sheriff of said county for one year, and until a succes- 
sor be duly qualified. In case no person shall have a 
majority of the electoral votes of his county for sheriff, 
the General Assembly, in joint committee, shall elect a 
sheriff from the two candidates who shall have the 
greatest number of votes in such county. 

17. All commissions shall be in the name of the 
State of Khode Island and Providence Plantations, 
sealed with the seal of the state, and attested by the 
secretary. 



SB2 • APPENDIX, 



Art. IX. — General Provisions. 

1. This constitution shall be the supreme law of the 
state ; and all laws contrary to or inconsistent with the 
same, which may be passed by the General Assembly^ 
shall be null and void. 

2. The General Assembly shall pass all necessary 
laws for carrying this constitution into effect. 

o. The judges of all the courts, and all other officers, 
both civil and military, shall be bound by oath or affirma- 
tion to the due observance of this constitution, and of 
the constitution of the United States. 

4. No jurisdiction shall, hereafter, be entertained by 
the General Assembly in cases of insolvency, divorce, 
sale of real estate of minors, or appeal from judicial 
decisions, nor in any other matters appertaining to the 
jurisdiction of judges and courts of law. But the Gen- 
eral Assembly shall confer upon the courts of the state 
all necessary powers for affording relief in the cases 
herein named ; and the General Assembly shall exercise 
all other jurisdiction and authority which they have 
heretofore entertained, and which is not prohibited by, 
nor repugnant to, this constitution. 

5. The General Assembly shall, from time to time, 
cause estimates to be made of the ratable property of 
the state, in order to the equitable apportionment of 
state taxes. 

6. "Whenever a direct tax is laid by the state, one 
sixth part thereof shall be assessed on the polls of the 
qualified electors : provided that the tax on a poll shall 
never exceed the sum of fifty cents ; and that all per- 
sons who actually perform military duty, or duty in the 
fire department, shall be exempted from said poll tax. 

7. The General Assembly shall have no power here- 
after to incur state debts to an amount exceeding the 
sum of fifty thousand dollars, except in time of war, or 
in case of invasion, without the express consent of the 



APPENDIX. • 333 

people. Every proposition for such increase shall be 
submitted to the electors at the next annual election, 
or on some day to be set apart for that purpose ; and 
shall not be further entertained by the General Assem- 
bly, unless it receive the votes of a majority of all the 
persons voting. This section shall not be construed to 
refer to any money that now is, or hereafter may be, 
deposited with this state by the general government. 

8. The assent of two thirds of the members elected 
to each House of the General Assembly shall be re- 
quisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys, 
or property, for local or private purposes ; or for creat- 
ing, continuing, altering, or renewing any body politic 
or corporate, banking corporations excepted. 

9. Hereafter, when any bill creating, continuing, 
altering, or renewing any banking corporation, author- 
ized to issue its promissory notes for circulation, shall 
pass the two Houses of the General Assembly, instead 
of being sent to the governor, it shall be referred to the 
electors for their consideration, at the next annual elec- 
tion, or on some day to be set apart for that purpose, 
with printed tickets containing the question, " Shall said 
bill " (with a brief description thereof,) " be approved, or 
not ? '* and if a majority of the electors voting shall 
vote to approve said bill, it shall become a law ; other- 
wise not. 

10. All grants of incorporation shall be subject to 
future acts of the General Assembly, in amendment or 
repeal thereof, or in any wise affecting the same ; and 
this provision shall be inserted in all acts of incorpora- 
tion hereafter granted. 

11. The General Assembly shall exercise, as hereto- 
fore, a visitatorial power over corporations. Three bank 
commissioners shall be chosen at the June session for 
one year, to carry out the powers of the General As- 
sembly in this respect. And commissioners for the vis- 
itation of other corporations, as the General Assembly 



334 APPENDIX. 

may deem expedient, shall be chosen at the June session, 
for the same term of office. 

12. No city council, or other government, in any 
city, shall have power to vote any tax upon the inhab- 
itants thereof, excepting the amount necessary to meet 
the ordinary public expenses in the same, without first 
submitting the question of an additional tax, or taxes, 
to the electors of said city ; and a majority of all who 
vote shall determine the question. But no elector shall 
be entitled to vote, in any city, upon any question of 
taxation thus submitted, unless he shall be qualified by 
the possession, in his own right, -of ratable property to 
the amount of one hundred and fifty dollars, and shall 
have been assessed thereon to pay a city tax, and shall 
have paid the same, as provided in section fourth of 
Article II. Nothing in that article shall be so con- 
strued as to prevent any elector from voting for town 
officers, and, in the city of Providence, and other 
cities, for mayor, aldermen, and members of the com- 
mon council. 

13. The General Assembly shall not pass any law, 
nor cause any act or thing to be done, in any way to 
disturb any of the owners or occupants of land in any 
territory now under the jurisdiction of any other state or 
states, the jurisdiction whereof may be ceded to, or de- 
creed to belong to, this state ; and the inhabitants of 
such territory shall continue in the full, quiet, and un- 
disturbed enjoyment of their titles to the same, without 
interference in any way on the part of this state. 

Art. X. — Of Elections. 

1. The election of the governor, lieutenant governor, 
secretary of state, general treasurer, attorney general, 
and also of senators and representatives to the General 
Assembly, and of sheriffs of the counties, shall be held 
on the third Wednesday of April annually. 



APPENDIX. S35 

S. The names of the persons voted for as goyernor, 
lieutenant governor, secretary of state, general treas- 
urer, ^ attorney general, and • sheriffs of the respective 
counties, shall be put upon one ticket ; and the tickets 
shall be deposited by the electors in a box by them- 
selves. The names of the persons voted for as senators 
and as representatives shall be put upon separate tickets, 
and the tickets shall be deposited in separate boxes. 
The polls for all the officers named in this section shall 
be opened at the same time. 

S. All the votes given for governor, lieutenant gov- 
ernor, secretary of state, general treasurer, attorney oen- 
eral, sheriffs, and also for senators, shall remain in tlie 
ballot boxes till the polls be closed. These votes shall 
then, in open town and ward meetings, and in the pres- 
ence of at^ least ten qualified voters, be taken out and 
sealed up, in separate envelopes, by the moderators and 
town clerks, and by the wardens and ward clerks, who 
shall certify the same, and forthwith deliver or send 
them to the secretary of state, whose duty it shall be 
securely to keep the same, and. to deliver the votes for 
state officers and sheriffs to the speaker of the House of 
Eepresentatives, after the House shall be organized, at 
the June session of the General Assembly. The votes 
last named shall, without delay, be opened, counted^ 
and declared, in such manner as the House of Eepre- 
sentatives shall direct ; and the oath of office shall be 
administered to the persons who shall be declared to be • 
elected, by the speaker of the House of Eepresentatives, 
and in the presence of the House : provided that the 
sheriffs may take their engagement before a senator, 
judge, or justice of the peace. The votes for senators 
shall be counted by the governor and secretary of state 
within seven days from the day of election ; and the 
governor shall give certificates to the senators who are 
elected. 

4. The boxes containing the votes for representatives 



336 * APPENDIX. 

to the General Assembly in the several towns shall not 
be opened till the polls for representatives are declared 
to be closed. The votes shall then be counted by the 
moderator and clerk, who shall announce the result, 
and give certificates to the person selected. If there be 
no election, or not an election of the whole number of 
representatives to which the town is entitled, the polls 
for representatives may be reopened, and the like pro- 
ceedings shall be had, until an election shall take 
place : provided, however, that an adjournment of the 
election may be made to a time not exceeding seven 
days from the first meeting. 

5. In the city of Providence, and other cities, the 
polls for representatives shall be kept open during the 
whole time of voting for the day ; and the votes in the 
several wards shall be sealed up, at the close of the 
meeting, by the wardens and ward clerks, in the pres- 
ence of at least ten qualified electors, and delivered to 
the city clerks. The mayor and aldermen of said city 
or cities shall proceed to count said votes within two 
days from the day of election ; and if no election, or 
an election of only a portion of the representatives 
whom the representative districts are entitled to elect, 
shall have taken place, the mayor and aldermen shall 
order a new election to be held, not more than ten days 
from the day of the first election ; and so on, till the 
election of representatives shall be completed. Certifi- 
cates of election shall be furnished to the persons chosen 
by the city clerks. 

6. If there be no choice of a senator or senators at 
the annual election, the governor shall issue his warrant 
to the town and ward clerks of the several towns and 
cities in the senatorial district or districts that may have 
failed to elect, requiring them to open town or ward 
meetings for another election, on a day not more than 
fifteen days beyond the time of counting the votes for 
senators. If, on the second trial, there shall be no 



APPENDIX. 837 

choice of a senator or senators, the governor shall certify 
the result to the speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives ; and the House of Representatives, and as many- 
senators as shall have been chosen, shall forthwith 
elect, in joint committee, a senator or senators, from 
the two candidates who may receive the highest num- 
ber of votes in each district. 

7. If there be no choice of governor at the annual 
election, the speaker of the House of Representatives 
shall issue his warrant to the clerks of the several towns 
and cities, requiring them to notify town and ward 
meetings for another election, on a day to be named by 
him, not more than thirty nor less than twenty days 
beyond the time of receiving the report of the committee 
of the House of Representatives, who shall count the 
votes for governor. If on this second trial there shall 
be no choice of a governor, the two Houses of the Gen- 
eral Assembly shall, at their next session, in joint com- 
mittee, elect a governor from the two candidates having 
the highest number of votes, to hold his office for the 
remainder of the political year, and until his successor 
be duly qualified. 

8. If there be no choice of governor and lieutenant 
governor at the annual election, the same proceedings 
for the choice of a lieutenant governor shall be had as 
are directed in the preceding section : provided, that 
the second trial for the election of governor and lieu- 
tenant governor shall be on the same day : and also 
provided, that, if the governor shall be chosen at the 
annual election, and the lieutenant governor shall not 
be chosen, then the last-named officer shall be elected 
in joint committee of the two Houses, from the two can- 
didates having the highest number of votes, without a 
further appeal to the electors. The lieutenant gov- 
ernor, elected as is provided in this section, shall hold 
his office as is provided in the preceding section respect- 
ing the governor. 

29 



oS8 APPENDIX. 

9. All town, city, and ward meetings for tlie choice 
of representatives, justices of the peace, sheriffs, sen- 
ators, state officers, representatives to Congress, and 
electors of president and vice president, shall be notified 
by the town, city, and ward clerks, at least seven days 
before the same are held. 

10. In all elections held by the people under this 
constitutign, a majority of all the electors voting shall 
be necessary to the choice of the person or persons 
voted for. 

11. The oath, or affirmation, to be taken by all the 
officers named in this article, shall be the following : 
You, being elected to the place (of governor, lieutenant 
governor, secretary of state, general treasurer, attorney 
general, or to the places of senators or representatives, 
or to the office of sheriff or justice of the peace,) do 
solemnly swear, or severally solemnly swear, or affirm, 
that you will be true and faithful to the State of Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations, and that you will 
support the constitution thereof; that you will sup- 
port the constitution of the United States ; and that 
you will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties 
of your aforesaid office, to the best of your abihties and 
understanding : so help you God ! or, this affirmation 
you make and give upon the peril of the penalty of 
perjury. 

Art. XI. — Of the Judiciary. 

1. The judicial power of this state shall be vested in 
one Supreme Court, and in such other courts, inferior to 
the Supreme Court, as the legislature may, from^ time 
to time, ordain and estabhsh ; and the jurisdiction of 
the Supreme and of all other courts may, from time to 
time, be regulated by the General Assembly. 

2. Chancery powers may be conferred on the Su- 
preme Court ; but no other court exercising chancery 
powers shall be established in this state, except as is 
now provided by law. 



APPENDIX. 339 

3. The justices of the Supreme Court shall be elected 
in joint committee of the two Houses, to hold their of- 
fices for one year, and until their places be declared 
vacant by a resolution to that effect, which shall be 
voted for by a majority of all the members elected to 
the House in which it may originate, and be concurred 
in by the same vote of the other House, without re- 
vision by the governor. Such resolution shall not be 
entertained at any other than the annual session for the 
election of public officers ; and in default of the passage 
thereof at the said session, the judge, or judges, shall 
hold his or their place or places for another year. But 
a judge of any court shall be removable from office, if, 
upon impeachment, he shall be found guilty of any 
official misdemeanor. 

4. In case of vacancy by the death, resignation, re- 
fusal, "or inability to serve, or removal from the state, 
of a judge of any court, his place may be filled by the 
joint committee, until the next annual election ; when, 
if elected, he shall hold his office as herein provided. 

5. The justices of the Supreme Court shall receive a 
compensation which shall not be diminished during 
their continuance in office. 

6. The judges of the courts inferior to the Supreme 
Court shall be annually elected in joint committee of 
the two Houses, except as herein provided. 

7. There shall be annually elected by each town, and 
by the several wards in the city of Providence, a suf- 
ficient number of justices of the peace, or wardens 
resident therein, with such jurisdiction as the General 
Assembly may prescribe. And said justices or wardens 
(except in the towns of New Shoreham and Jamestown) 
shall be commissioned by the governor. 

8. The General Assembly may provide that jus- 
tices of the peace, who are not reelected, may hold 
their offices for a time not exceeding ten days beyond 
the day of the annual election of these officers. 



340 APPENDIX. 

9. The courts of probate in this state, except the Su- 
preme Court, shall remain as at present established by 
law, until the General Assembly shall otherwise pre- 
scribe. 

Art. XII. — Of Education. 

1. All moneys which now are, or may hereafter be, 
appropriated, by the authority of the state, to public 
education, shall be securely invested, and remain a per- 
petual fund for the maintenance of free schools in this 
state ; and the General Assembly are prohibited from 
diverting said moneys or fund from this use, and from 
borrowing, appropriating, or using the same, or any 
part thereof, for any other purpose, or under any pre- 
tence whatsoever. But the income derived from said 
moneys or fund shall be annually paid over, by the 
general treasurer, to the towns and cities of the state, 
for the support of said schools, in equitable proportions ; 
provided, however, that a portion of said income may, 
in the discretion of the General Assembly, be added 
to the principal of said fund. 

2. The several towns and cities shall faithfully de- 
vote their portions of said annual distribution to the 
support of free schools ; and, in default thereof, shall for- 
feit their shares of the same to the increase of the fund. 

3. All charitable donations for the support of free 
schools, and other purposes of public education, shall 
be received by the General Assembly, and invested and 
applied agreeably to the terms prescribed by the do- 
nors : provided the same be not inconsistent with the 
constitution, or with sound public policy ; in which 
case the donation shall not be received. 

Art. XIII. — Amendments. 

The General Assembly may propose amendments to 
this constitution by the vote of a majority of all the 



APPENDIX. S41 

members elected to each House. Such propositions 
shall be pubHshed in the newspapers of the state ; and 
printed copies of said propositions shall be sent by the 
secretary of state, with the names of all the members 
who shall have voted thereon, with the yeas and nays, to 
all the town and city clerks in the state ; and the said 
propositions shall be, by said clerks,- inserted in the 
notices by them issued for warning the next annual 
town and Avard meetings in April ; and the town and 
ward clerks shall read said propositions to the electors, 
when thus assembled, with the names of all the repre- 
sentatives and senators who shall have voted thereon, 
with the yeas and nays, before the election of repre- 
sentatives and senators shall be had. If a majority of 
all the members elected at said annual meetings, present 
in eaeh House, shall approve any proposition thus 
made, the same shall be pubHshed as before provided, 
and then sent to the electors in the mode provided in 
the act of approval ; and if then approved by a majority 
of the electors who shall vote in town and ward meet- 
ings, to be specially convened for that purpose, it shall 
become a part of the constitution of the state. 

Art. XIV. — Of the Adoption of the Constitu- 
tion. 

1. This constitution shall be submitted to the people, 
for their adoption or rejection, on Monday, the 27th 
day of December next, and on the two succeeding 
days ; and all persons voting are requested to deposit 
in the ballot boxes printed or written tickets in the fol- 
lowing form : I am an American citizen, of the age of 
twenty-one years, and have my permanent residence, or 
home, in this state. I am (or not) qualified to vote 
under the existing laws of this state. I vote for (or 
against) the constitution formed by the convention of 
the people, assembled at Providence, and which was 
29* 



84^ APPENDIX. 

proposed to the people by said convention on the 18tli 
day of November, 1841. 

2. Every voter is requested to write bis name on the 
face of his ticket ; and every person entitled to vote as 
aforesaid, who, from sickness or other causes, may be 
unable to attend and vote in the town or ward meetings 
assembled for voting upon said constitution, on the 
days aforesaid, is requested to write his name upon a 
ticket, and to obtain the signature, upon the back of 
the same, of a person who has given in his vote, as a 
witness thereto. And the moderator, or clerk, of any 
town or ward meeting convened for the purpose afore- 
said, shall receive such vote, on either of the three days 
next succeeding the three days before named for voting 
on said constitution. 

3. The citizens of the several towns in this state, and 
of the several wards in the city of Providence, are re- 
quested to hold town and ward meetings on the days 
appointed, and for the purpose aforesaid ; and also to 
choose, in each town and ward, a moderator and clerk, 
to conduct said meetings and receive the votes. 

4. The moderators and clerks are required to receive, 
and carefully to keep, the votes of all persons qualified 
to vote as aforesaid, and to make registers of all the 
persons voting ; which, together with the tickets given 
in by the voters, shall be sealed up, and returned by 
said moderators and clerks, with certificates signed and 
sealed by them, to the clerks of the convention of the 
people, to be by them safely deposited and kept, and 
laid before said convention, to be counted and declared 
at their next adjourned meeting, on the 12th day of 
January, 1842. 

5. This constitution, except so much thereof as re- 
lates to the election of the officers named in the sixth 
section of this article, shall, if adopted, go into opera- 
tion on the first Tuesday of May, in the year one 
thousand eight hundred and forty-two. 



APPENDIX. 343 

6. So mucli of the constitution as relates to the elec- 
tion of the officers named in this section shall go into 
operation on the Monday before the third Wednesday 
of April next preceding. The first election, under this 
constitution, of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary 
of state, general treasurer, and attorney general, of sen- 
ators and representatives, of sheriffs for the several 
counties, and of justices of the peace for the several 
towns, and the wards of the city of Providence, shall 
take place on the Monday aforesaid. 

7. The electors of the several towns and wards are 
authorized to assemble on the day aforesaid, without 
being notified, as is provided in Section 9 of Article 
X., and without the registration required in Section 
7 of Article II., and to choose moderators and clerks, 
and proceed in the election of the officers named in the 
preceding section. 

8. The votes given in at the first election for repre- 
sentatives to the General Assembly, and for justices of 
the peace, shall be counted by the moderators and clerks 
of the towns and wards chosen as aforesaid ; and cer- 
tificates of election shall be furnished by them to the 
representatives and justices of the peace elected. 

9. Said moderators and clerks shall seal up, certify, 
and transmit to the House of Eepresentatives all the 
votes that may be given in at said first election for 
governor and state officers, and for senators and sheriffs ; 
and the votes shall be counted as the House of Repre- 
sentatives may direct. 

10. Th£ speaker of the House of Representatives 
shall, at the first session of the same, q^ualify himself to 
administer the oath of office to the members of the 
House, and to other officers, by taking and subscribing 
the same oath in the presence of the House. 

11. The first session of the General Assembly shall 
be held in the city of Providence on the first Tuesday 
of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and 



S44 APPENDIX, 

forty-two, witli such adjournments as may he necessary ^ 
but all other sessions shall be held as is provided in 
Article IV. of this constitution. 

12. If any of the representatives, whom the towns 
or districts are entitled to choose at the first annual 
election aforesaid, shall not be then elected, or if their 
places shall become vacant during the year, the same 
proceedings may be had to complete the election, or to 
supply vacancies, as are directed concerning elections in 
the preceding sections of this article. 

lo. If there shall be no election of governor or lieu- 
tenant governor, or of both of these officers, or of a 
senator or senators, at the first annual election, the 
House of Representatives, and as many senators as are 
chosen, shall forthwith elect, in joint committee, a gov- 
ernor or lieutenant governor, or both, or a senator or 
senators, to hold their offices for the remainder of the 
political year ; and, in the case of the two officers first 
named, until their successors shall be duly qualified. 

14. If the number of justices of the peace determined 
by the several towns and wards on the day of the first 
annual election shall not be then chosen, or if vacancies 
shall occur, the same proceedings shall be had as are 
provided for in this article in the case of a non-election 
of representatives and senators, or of vacancies in their 
offices. The justices of the peace thus elected shall 
hold office for the remainder of the political year, or 
until the second annual election of justices of the peace, 
to be held on such day as may be prescribed by the 
General Assembly. 

15. The justices of the peace elected in pursuance of 
the provisions of this article may be engaged by the 
persons acting as moderators of the town and ward 
meetings, as herein provided; and said justices, after 
obtaining their certificates of election, may discharge 
the duties of their office, for a time not exceeding twen- 
ty days, without a commission from the governor. 



API»END1X. S45 

16. Nothing' contained in this article, inconsistent 
"with any of the provisions of other articles of the con- 
stitution, shall continue in force for a longer period than 
the first political year under the same. 

IT. The present government shall exercise all the 
powers with which it is now clothed, until the said first 
Tuesday of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty- 
two, and until their successors, under this constitution, 
shall be duly elected and qualified. 

18. All civil, judicial, and military ofiicers now elect- 
ed, or who shall hereafter be elected by the General 
Assembly, or other competent authority, before the said 
first Tuesday of May, shall hold their offices, and may 
exercise their powers, until that time. 

19. All laws and statutes, public and private, now in 
force, and not repugnant to this constitution, shall con- 
tinue in force until they expire by their own limitation, 
or are repealed by the General Assembly. All contracts, 
judgments, actions, and rights of action shall be as valid 
as if this constitution had not been made. All debts 
contracted, and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against 
the state as if this constitution had not been made. 

20. The Supreme Court, established by this constitu- 
tion, shall have the same jurisdiction as the Supreme 
Judicial Court at present established ; and shall have 
jurisdiction of all causes which may be appealed to, or 
pending in the same ; and shall be held at the same 
times and places in each county, as the present Supreme 
Judicial Court, until the General Assembly shall other- 
wise prescribe. 

21. The citizens of the town of New Shoreham shall 
be hereafter exempted from military duty, and the duty 
of serving as jurors in the courts of this state. The 
citizens of the town of Jamestown shall be forever 
hereafter exempted from military field duty. 

22. The General Assembly shall, at their first session 



346 APPENDIX. 

after the adoption of this constitution, propose to the 
electors the question, whether the word "white," in 
the first line of the first section of Article II. of the con- 
stitution, shall be stricken out. The question shall be 
voted upon at the succeeding annual election ; and if a 
majority of the electors voting shall vote to strike out 
the word aforesaid, it shall be stricken from the consti- 
tution ; otherwise, not. If the word aforesaid shall be 
stricken out, Section S of Article II. shall cease to be a 
part of the constitution. 

23. The president, vice presidents, and secretaries 
shall certify and sign this constitution, and cause the 
same to be published. 

Done in convention, at Providence, on the 18th day 
of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred 
and forty-one, and of American independence the sixty- 
sixth. 

Joseph Joslin, President of the Convention, 

Wager Weeden, } tz- x> -j ^ 
c TT TTr i' *^^ce rresidents, 

Samuel H. Wales, > 

Attest: * 

William H. Smith, ) Secretaries 
John S. Harris, J 



CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF RHODE 
ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, 

ADOPTED NOVEMBER, 1842. 

"We, the people of the State of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations, grateful to Almighty God for 
the civil and religious liberty which he hath so long 
permitted us to enjoy, and looking to him for a blessing 
upon our endeavors to secure and to transmit the same. 



APPENDIX. 347 

unimpaired, to succeeding generations, do ordain and 
establish this constitution of government. 

Art. I. — Declaration of certain Constitutional 
Rights and Principles. 

In order effectually to secure the religious and politi- 
cal freedom established by our venerated ancestors, and 
to preserve the same for our posterity, we do declare 
that the essential and unquestionable rights and princi- 
ples hereinafter mentioned shall be established, main- 
tained, and preserved, and shall be of paramount obliga- 
tion in all legislative, judicial, and executive proceedings. 

Section 1. In the words of the Father of his Coun- 
try, we declare that " the basis of our political systems 
is the right of the people to make and alter their con- 
stitutions of government ; but that the constitution which 
at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and au- 
thentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory 
upon all." 

Sec. 2. All free governments are instituted for the 
protection, safety, and happiness of the people. All 
laws, therefore, should be made for the good of the 
whole ; and the burdens of the state ought to be fairly 
distributed among its citizens. 

Sec. 3. Whereas Almighty God hath created the 
mind free ; and all attempts to influence it by temporal 
punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend 
to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness: and whereas 
a principal object of our venerable ancestors, in their 
migration to this country, and their settlement of this 
state, was, as they expressed it, to hold forth a hvely 
experiment that a flourishing civil state may stand and 
be best maintained with full Liberty in religious concern- 
ments: We therefore declare that no man shall be com- 
pelled to frequent or to support any religious worship, 
place, or ministry whatever, except in fulfilment of his 



S48 APPENDIX. 

own voluntary contract ; nor enforced, restrained, mo- 
lested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor disqual- 
ified from holding any ofiice, nor otherwise suffer, on 
account of his religious belief; and that every man 
shall be free to worship God according to the dictates 
of his own conscience, and to profess, and by argument 
to maintain, his opinion in matters of religion ; and that 
the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect his 
civil capacity. 

Sec. 4. Slavery shall not be permitted in this state. 

Sec. 5. Every person within this state ought to find 
a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all 
injuries or wrongs which he may receive in his person, 
property, or character. He ought to obtain right and 
justice freely and without purchase, completely and 
without denial, promptly and without delay, comform- 
ably to the laws. 

Sec. 6. The right of the people to be secure in their 
persons, papers, and possessions, against unreasonable 
searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no 
warrant shall issue but on complaint in writing, upon 
probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and 
describing as nearly as may be the place to be searched, 
and the persons or things to be seized. 

Sec. 7. No person shall be held to answer for a cap- 
ital or other infamous crime, unless on presentment or 
indictment by a grand jury, except in cases of impeach- 
ment, or of such offences as are cognizable by a justice 
of the peace ; or in cases arising in the land or naval 
forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time 
of war or public danger. No person shall, after an ac- 
quittal, be tried for the same offence. 

Sec. 8. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor ex- 
cessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted ; 
and all punishments ought to be proportioned to the 
offence. 

Sec. 9. All persons imprisoned ought to be bailed by 



APPENDIX. 349 

sufficient surety, unless for offences punishable by death 
or by imprisonment for life, when the proof of guilt is 
evident or the presumption great. The privilege of the 
writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless 
when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety 
shall require it ; nor ever, without the authority of the 
General Assembly. 

Sec. 10. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused 
shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an 
impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause 
of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining 
them in his favor, to have the assistance of counsel 
ia his defence, and shall be at liberty to speak for him- 
self ; nor shall he be deprived of life, liberty, or prop- 
erty, unless by the judgment of his peers, or the laws of 
the land. 

Sec. 11. The person of a debtor, when there is not 
strong presumption of fraud, ought not to be continued 
in prison after he shall have delivered up his property 
for the benefit of his creditor, in such manner as shall 
be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 12. No ex-post-facto law, or law impairing the 
obligation of contracts, shall be passed. 

Sec. 13. No man in a court of common law shall be 
compelled to give evidence criminating himself. 

Sec. 14. Every man being presumed innocent until 
he is pronounced guilty by the law, no act of severity 
which is not necessary to secure an accused person shall 
be permitted. 

Sec. 15. The right of trial by jury shall remain in- 
violate. 

Sec 16. Private property shall not be taken for pub- 
lic uses without just compensation. 

Sec. 17. The people shall continue to enjoy and 
freely exercise all the rights of fishery, and the privi- 
leges of the shore, to which they have been heretofore 
30 



350 APPENDIX. 

entitled under the charter and usages of this state. But 
no new right is intended to be granted, nor any existing 
right impaired, by this declaration. 

Sec. 18. The military shall be held in strict subor- 
dination to the civil authority. And the law martial 
shall be used and exercised in such cases only as occa- 
sion shall necessarily require. 

Sec. 19. No soldier shall be quartered in any house, 
in time of peace, without the consent of the owner ; nor 
in time of war, but in manner to be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 20. The liberty of the press being essential to 
the security of freedom in a state, any person may pub- 
lish his sentiments on any subject, being responsible for 
the abuse of that liberty ; and in all trials for libel, both 
civil and criminal, the truth, unless published from 
malicious motives, shall be sufficient defence to the per- 
son charged. 

Sec. 21. The citizens have a right in a peaceable 
manner to assemble for their common good, and to 
apply to those invested with the powers of government 
for redress of grievances, or for other purposes, by pe- 
tition, address, or remonstrance. 

Sec. 22. The right of the people to keep and bear 
arms shall not be infringed. 

Sec. 23. The enumeration of the foregoing rights 
shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained 
by the people. 

Art. II. — Of the Qualification of Electoks. 

Section 1. Every male citizen of the United States, 
of the age of twenty-one years, who has had his residence 
and home in this state for one year, and in the town or 
city in which he may claim a right to vote six months 
next preceding the time of voting, and who is really 
and truly possessed, in his own right, of real estate in 
such town or city, of the value of one hundred and 



APPENDIX. 351 

thirty-four dollars over and above all encumbrances, or 
which shall rent for seven dollars per annum over and 
above any rent reserved, or the interest of any encum- 
brances thereon, being an estate in fee simple, fee tail, 
for the life of any person, or an estate in reversion or 
remainder, which qualifies no other person to vote, the 
conveyance of which estate, if by deed, shall have been 
recorded at least ninety days, shall thereafter have a 
right to vote in the election of all civil officers, and on 
all questions in all legal town or ward meetings, so long 
as he continues so qualified. And if any person here- 
inbefore described shall own any such estate within this 
state, out of the town or city in which he resides, he 
shall have a right to vote in the election of all general 
officers, and members of the General Assembly, in the 
town or city in which he shall have had his residence 
and home for the term of six months next preceding 
the election, upon producing a certificate from the clerk 
of the town or city in which his estate lies, bearing date 
within ten days of the time of his voting, setting forth 
that such person has a sufficient estate therein to qualify 
him as a voter ; and that the deed, if any, has been 
recorded ninety days. 

Sec. 2. Every [ ] male native citizen of the United 
States, of the age of twenty-one years, who has had his 
residence and home in this state two years, and in the 
town or city in which he may offer to vote six months 
next preceding the time of voting, whose name is 
registered pursuant to the act calling the convention to 
frame this constitution, or shall be registered in the 
office of the clerk of such town or city at least seven 
days before the time he shall offer to vote, and before 
the last day of December in the present year, and who 
has paid or shall pay a tax or taxes assessed upon his 
estate within this state, and within a year of the time 
of voting, to the amount of one dollar, or who shall 
voluntarily pay at least seven days before the time he 



35^ APPENDIX. 

shall offer to vote, and before said last day of De- 
cember, to the clerk or treasurer of the town or city 
where he resides, the sum of one dollar, or such sum 
as, with his other taxes, shall amount to one dollar, for 
the support of public schools therein, and shall make 
proof of the same, by the certificate of the clerk, treas- 
urer, or collector of any town or city where such pay- 
ment is made ; or who, being so registered, has been 
enrolled in any military company in this state, and 
done military service or duty therein, within the present 
year, pursuant to law, and shall (until other proof is 
required by law) prove by the certificate of the officer 
legally commanding the regiment, or chartered or le- 
gally authorized volunteer company, in which he may 
have served or done duty, that he has been equipped 
and done duty according to law, or, by the certificate of 
the commissioners upon military claims, that he has 
performed military service, shall have a right to vote in 
the election of all civil officers, and on all questions in 
all legally organized town or ward meetings, until the 
end of the first year after the adoption of this consti- 
tution, or until the end of the year eighteen hundred 
a,nd forty-three. 

From and after that time, every such citizen who has 
had the residence herein required, and whose j.iame shall 
be registered in the town where he resides, on or before 
the last day of December, in the year next preceding 
the time of his voting, and who shall show, by legal 
proof, that he has, for and within the year next pre- 
ceding the time he shall offer to vote, paid a tax or 
taxes assessed against him in any town or city in this 
state, to the amount of one dollar, or that he has been 
enrolled in a military company in tiiis state, been 
equipped and done duty therein according to law, and 
at least for one day during such year, shall have a right 
to vote in the election of all civil officers, and on all 
questions in all legally organized town or ward meet- 



APPENDIX. 353 

ings' Provided, Thdit no person shall at anytime be 
allowed to vote in the election of the city council of the 
city of Providence, or upon any proposition to impose 
a tax, or for the expenditure of money in any town or 
city, unless he shall, within the year next preceding, 
have paid a tax assessed upon his property therein, 
valued at least at one hundred and thirty-four dollars. 

Sec. 3. The assessors of each town or city shall an- 
nually assess upon every person v/hose name shall be 
registered, a tax of one dollar, or such sum as with his 
other taxes shall amount to one dollar ; which registry 
tax shall be paid into the treasury of such town or city, 
and be applied to the suppoit of public schools therein. 
But no cemj^ulsory process shall issue for the collection 
of any registry tax ; Protidedy That the registry tax of 
every person who has performed military duty accord- 
ing to the provisions of the preceding section, shall be 
remitted for the year he shall perform such duty ; and 
the registry tax assessed upon any mariner, for any 
year while he is at sea, shall, upon his application, be 
remitted ; and no person shall be allowed to vote whose 
registry tax, for either of the two years next preceding 
the time of voting, is not paid or remitted as herein 
provided. 

Sec. 4, No person in the military, naval, marine, or 
any other service of the United States, shall be con- 
sidered as having the required residence by reason of 
being employed in any garrison, barrack, or military or 
naval station in this state ; and no pauper, lunatic, per- 
son non compos mentis, person under guardianship, or 
member of the Narragansett tribe of Indians, shall be 
permitted to be registered or to vote. Nor shall any 
person convicted of bribery, or of any crime deemed 
infamous at common law, be permitted to exercise that 
privilege, unless he be expressly restored thereto by 
act of the Greneral Assembly. 

Sec. 5. Persons residing on lands ceded by this state 
30* 



354 APFENDTX, 

to the United States shall not be entitled to exercise 
the privileges of electors. 

Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall have full power 
to provide for a registry of voters, to prescribe the man- 
ner of conducting the elections, the form of certificates, 
the nature of the evidence to be required in case of a 
dispute as to the right of any person to vote, and gener- 
ally to enact all laws necessary to carry this article into 
effect, and to prevent abuse, corruption^, and fraud in 
voting. 

Art. III. — Or the Distribution of Powers. 

The powers of government shall be distributed into 
three departments • — the legislative, execuCive, and ju- 
diciaL 

Art. TV. — Of the Legislative Powee. 

Section 1. This constitution shall be the supreme 
law of the state^ and any law inconsistent therewith 
shall be void. The General Assembly shall pass all 
laws necessary to carry this constitution into effect. 

Sec, 2. The legislative power under this constitution 
shall be vested in two Houses — the one to be called 
the Senate, the other the House of Representatives ; 
and both together, the General Assembly. The con- 
currence of the two Houses shall be necessary to the 
enactment of laws. The style of their laws shall be^ 
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows. 

Sec. 3. There shall be two sessions of the General 
Assembly holden annually — one at Newport, on the 
first Tuesday of May, for the purposes of election and 
other business ; the other on the last Monday of Oc- 
tober, which last session shall be holden at South Kings- 
town once in two years, and the intermediate years 
alternately at Bristol and East Greenwich ; and an ad- 
journment from the October session shall be holden. 
annually at Providence. 



APPENDIX. 355 

Sec. 4. No member of the General Assembly shall 
take any fee, or be of counsel in any case pending before 
either House of the General Assembly, under penalty 
of forfeiting his seat, upon proof thereof to the satisfac- 
tion of the House of which he is a member. 

Sec. 5. The person of every member of the General 
Assembly shall be exempt from arrest, and his estate 
from attachment in any civil action, during the session 
of the General Assembly, and two days before the com- 
mencement, and two days after the termination thereof ; 
and all process served contrary hereto shall be void. 
For any speech in debate, in either House, no member 
shall be questioned in any other place. 

Sec. 6. Each House shall be the judge of the elec- 
tions and qualifications of its members, and a majority 
shall constitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller 
number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel 
the attendance of absent members, in such manner and 
under such penalties as may be prescribed by such 
House, or by law. The organization of the two Houses 
may be regulated by law, subject to the limitations con- 
tained in this constitution. 

Sec. 7. Each House may determine its rules of 
proceeding, punish contempts, punish its members for 
disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two 
thirds, expel a member ; but not a second time for the 
same cause. 

Sec. 8. Each House shall keep a journal of its pro- 
ceedings. The yeas and nays of the members of either 
House shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, 
be entered on the journal. 

Sec. 9. Neither house shall, during a session, with- 
out the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two 
days, nor to any other place than that in which they 
may be sitting. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall continue to 
exercise the powers they have heretofore exercised, 
unless prohibited in this constitution. 



356 - APPENDIX. 

Sec. 11. The senators and representatiyes sliall re- 
ceive the sum of one dollar for every day of attend- 
ance, and eight cents per mile for travelling expenses in 
going to and returning from the General Assembly. 
The General Assembly shall regulate the compensation 
of the governor and all other officers, subject to the 
limitations contained in this constitution. 

Sec. 12. All lotteries shall hereafter be prohibited in 
this state, except those already authorized by the Gen- 
eral Assembly. 

Sec. 13. The General Assembly shall have no power 
hereafter, without the express consent of the people, to 
incur state debts to an amount exceeding fifty thousand 
dollars, except in time of war, or in case of insurrection 
or invasion ; nor shall they in any case, without such 
consent, pledge the faith of the state for the payment of 
the obligations of others. This section shall not be con- 
strued to refer to any money that may be deposited with 
this state by the government of the United States. 

Sec. 14. The assent of two thirds of the members 
elected to each House of the General Assembly shall be 
required to every bill appropriating the public money or 
property for local or private purposes. 

Sec. 15. The General Assembly shall, from time to 
time, provide for making new valuations of property 
for the assessment of taxes, in such manner as they may 
deem best. A new estimate of such property shall be 
taken before the first direct state tax after the adoption 
of this constitution shall be assessed. 

Sec. 16. The General Assembly may provide by law 
for the continuance in office of any officers of annual 
election or appointment, until other persons are qualified 
to take their places. 

Sec. 17. Hereafter, when any bill shall be presented 
to either House of the General Assembly, to create a 
corporation for any other than for religious, literary, or 
charitable purposes, or for a military or fire company. 



APPENDIX. 357 

it shall be continued until another election of members 
of the General Assembly shall have taken place ; and 
such public notice of the pendency thereof shall be 
given as may be required by law. 

Sec. 18. It shall be the duty of the two Houses, 
upon the request of either, to join in grand committee 
for the purpose of electing senators in Congress, at such 
times, and in such manner, as may be prescribed by law 
for said elections. 

Art. Y. — Of the House of E-epresentatives. 

Section 1. The House of Representatives shall never 
exceed seventy-two members, and shall be constituted 
on the basis of population, always allowing one repre- 
sentative for a fraction exceeding half the ratio; but 
each town or city shall always be entitled to at least one 
member ; and no town or city shall have more than one 
sixth of the whole number of the members to which the 
House is hereby limited. The present ratio shall be one 
representative " to every fifteen hundred and thirty in- 
habitants ; and the General Assembly may, after any 
new census taken by the authority of the United States 
or of this state, reapportion the representation by alter- 
ing the ratio ; but no town or city shall be divided into 
districts for the choice of representatives. 

Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall have 
authority to elect its speaker, clerks, and other officers. 
The senior member from the town of Newport, if any 
be present, shall preside in the organization of the 
House. 

Art. VI. — Of the Senate. 

Section 1. The Senate shall consist of the lieuten- 
ant governor, and of one senator from each town or 
city in the state. 

Sec. 2. The governor, and, in his absence, the lieu- 



35S APPENDIX. 

tenant governor, shall preside in the Senate and in 
grand committee. The presiding officer of the Senate 
and grand committee shall have a right to vote in case 
of equal division, but not otherwise. 

Sec. 3. If, by reason of death, resignation, absence, 
or other cause, there be no governor or Ueutenant gov- 
ernor present, to preside in the Senate, the Senate shall 
elect one of their own members to preside during such 
absence or vacancy ; and until such election is made by 
the Senate, the secretary of state shall preside. 

Sec. 4. The secretary of state shall, by virtue of his 
office, be secretary of the Senate, unless otherwise pro- 
vided by law ; and the Senate may elect such other offi- 
cers as they may deem necessary. 

Art. YII. — Of the Executrt: Power. 

Section 1. The chief executive power of this state 
shall be vested in a governor, who, together with a 
lieutenant governor, shall be annually elected by the 
people. 

Sec. 2. The governor shall take care that the laws be 
faithfully executed. 

Sec. 3. He shall be captain general and commandeV- 
in-chief of the military and naval forces of this state, 
except when they shall be called into the service of the 
United States. 

Sec. 4. He shall have power to grant reprieves, after 
conviction, in all cases except those of impeachment, 
until the end of the next session of the General As- 
sembly. 

Sec. 5. He may fill vacancies in office not otherwise 
provided for by this constitution or by Irtw, until the 
same shall be filled by the General Assembly or by the 
peo]^le. 

Sec. 6. In case of disagreement between the two 
Houses of the General Assembly, respecting the time or 



APPENDIX. Bb9 

place of adjournment, certified to him by either, he may 
adjourn them to such time and pUice as he shall think 
proper : Provided, That the time of adjournment shall 
not be extended beyond the day of the next stated 
session. 

Sec. 7. He may, on extraordinary occasions, con- 
vene the General Assembly at any town or city in this 
state, at any time not provided for by law ; and in case 
of danger from the prevalence of epidemic or contagions 
disease in the place in which the General Assembly are 
by law to meet, or to which they may have been ad- 
journed, or for other urgent reasons, he may, by procla- 
mation, convene said Assembly at any other place 
within this state. 

Sec. 8. All commissions shall be in the name and by 
authority of the State of Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations ; shall be sealed with the state seal, signed 
by the governor, and attested by the secretary. 

Sec. 9. In case of vacancy in the office of governor^, 
or of his inability to serve, impeachment, or absence 
from the state, the lieutenant governor shall iill the 
office of governor, and exercise the powers and author- 
ity appertaining thereto, until a governor is qualified 
to act, or until the office is filled at the next annual 
election. 

Sec. 10. If the offices of governor and lieutenant 
governor be both vacant, by reason of death, resigna- 
tion, impeachment, absence, or otherwise, the person 
entitled to preside over the Senate for the time being, 
shall, in like manner, fill the office of governor during 
such absence or vacancy. 

Sec. 11. The compensation of the governor and lieu- 
tenant governor shall be established by law, and shall 
not be diminished during the term for which they are 
elected. 

SEg. 12. The duties and powers of the secretary, 
attorney general, and general treasurer, shall be the 



S60 APPENDIX. 

same under this constitution as are now establislied, or 
as, from time to time, may be prescribed by law. 

Art. VIII. — Op Elections. 

Section 1. The governor, lieutenant governor, sen- 
ators, representatives, secretary of state, attorney gen- 
eral, and general treasurer, shall be elected at the 
town, city, or ward meetings, to be holden on the first 
Wednesday of April, annually ; and shall severally hold 
their offices for one year, from the first Tuesday of May 
next succeeding, and until others are legally chosen and 
duly qualified "to fill their places. If elected or quali- 
fied after the said first Tuesday of May, they shall hold 
their ofii.ces for the remainder of the political year, and 
until their successors are qualified to act. 

Sec. 2. The voting for governor, lieutenant governor, 
secretary of state, attorney general, general treasurer, 
and representatives to Congress, shall be by ballot ; sen- 
ators and representatives to the General Assembly, and 
town or city officers, shall be chosen by ballot, on de- 
mand of any seven persons entitled to vote for the same ; 
and in all cases where an election is made by ballot, or 
paper vote, the manner of balloting shall be the same 
as is now required in voting for general officers, until 
otherwise prescribed by lav/. 

Sec. 3. The names of the persons voted for as gov- 
ernor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney 
general, and general treasurer, shall be placed upon one 
ticket ; and all votes for these officers shall, in open 
town or ward meetings, be sealed up by the moderators 
and town clerks, and by the wardens and ward clerks, 
who shoall certify the same, and deliver or send them to 
the secretary of state, whose duty it shall be securely to 
keep and deliver the same to the grand committee after 
the organization of the two Houses at the annual May 
session ; and it shall be the duty of the two Houses, at 



APPENDIX. 361 

said session, after their organization, upon the request 
of either House, to join in grand committee, for the pur- 
pose of counting and declaring said votes, and of elect" 
ing other officers. 

Sec. 4. The town and ward clerks shall also keep a 
correct list or register of all persons voting for general 
officers, and shall transmit a copy thereof to the General 
Assembly on or before the first day of said May session. 

Sec. 5. The ballots for senators and representatives 
in the several towns shall, in each case, after the polls 
are declared to be closed, be counted by the moderator, 
who shall announce the result, and the clerk shall give 
certificates to the persons elected. If in any case there 
be no election, the polls may be reopened, and the like 
proceedings shall be had until an election shall take 
place : Provided, however, That an adjournment or ad- 
journments of the election may be made to a time not 
exceeding seven days from the first meeting. 

Sec. 6. In the city of Providence, the polls for sen- 
ator and representatives shall be kept open during the 
whole time of voting for the day, and the votes in the 
several wards shall be sealed up at the close of the 
meeting by the wardens and ward clerks in open ward 
meeting, and afterwards delivered to the city clerk. 
The mayor and aldermen shall proceed to count said 
votes within two days from the day of election ; and if 
no election of senator and representatives, or if an elec- 
tion of only a portion of the representatives, shall have 
taken place, the mayor and aldermen shall order a new 
election, to be held not more than ten days from the 
day of the first election, and so on until the election 
shall be completed. Certificates of election shall be 
furnished by the city clerk to the persons chosen. 

Sec. 7. If no person shall have a majority of votes 
for governor, it shall be the duty of the grand commit- 
tee to elect one by ballot from the two persons having 
the highest number of votes for the office, except when 
31 



362 APPENDIX. 

such a result is produced by rejecting the entire vote of 
any town, city, or ward, for informality or illegality ; in 
which case, a new election by the electors throughout 
the state shall be ordered ; and in case no person shall 
have a majority of votes for lieutenant governor, it shall 
be the duty of the grand committee to elect one by bal- 
lot from the two persons having the highest number of 
votes for the office. 

Sec. 8. In case an election of the secretary of state, 
attorney general, or general treasurer should fail to be 
made by the electors at the annual election, the vacancy 
or vacancies shall be filled by the General Assembly, in 
grand committee, from the two candidates for such office 
having the greatest number of the votes of the electors. 
Or in case of a vacancy in either of said offices from 
other causes, between the sessions of the General As- 
sembly, the governor shall appoint some person to fill 
the same until a successor elected by the General As- 
sembly is qualified to act ; and in such case, and also in 
all other cases of vacancies not otherwise provided for, 
the General Assembly may fill the same in any manner 
they may deem proper. 

Sec. 9. Vacancies from any cause in the Senate or 
House of Representatives may be filled by a new elec- 
tion. 

Sec. 10. In all elections held by the people under 
this constitution, a majority of all the electors voting 
shall be necessarv to the election of the persons voted 
for. 

Art. IX. — Of Qualifications for Office. 

Section 1. No person shall t)e eligible to any civil 
office (except the office of school committee) unless he 
be a qualified elector for such office. 

Sec. 2. Every person shall be disqualified from hold- 
ing any office to which he may have been elected, if he 
be convicted of having offisred, or procured any other 



APPENDIX. 363 

person to offer, any bribe to secure his election, or the 
election of any other person. 

Sec. 3. All general officers shall take the following 
engagement before they act in their respective offices, to 

wit: You , being by the free vote of the electors 

of this State of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions, elected unto the place of , do solemnly 

swear (or affirm) to be true and faithful unto this state, 
and to support the constitution of this state and of the 
United States ; that you will faithfully and impartially 
discharge all the duties of your aforesaid office to the 
best of your abilities, according to law : so help you 
God. Or, This affirmation you make and give upon the 
peril of the penalty of perjury. 

Sec. 4. The members of the General Assembly, the 
judges of all the courts, and all other officers, both civil 
and military, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to 
support this constitution, and the constitution of the 
United States. 

Sec. 5. The oath, or affirmation, shall be adminis- 
tered to the governor, lieutenant governor, senators, and 
representatives, by the secretary of state, or, in his ab- 
sence, by the attorney general. The secretary of state, 
attorney general, and general treasurer shall be en- 
gaged by the governor, or by a justice of the Supreme 
Court. 

Sec. 6. No person holding any office under the gov- 
ernment of the United States, or of any other state or 
country, shall act as a general officer, or as a member of 
the General Assembly, unless, at the time of taking his 
engagement, he shall have resigned his office under such 
government. And if any general officer, senator, rep- 
resentative, or judge, shall, after his election and en- 
gagement, accept any appointment under any other 
government, his office under this shall be immediately 
vacated ; but this restriction shall not apply to any per- 
son appointed to take depositions or acknowledgments 



364 APPENDIX. 

of deeds, or other legal instruments, by the authority of 
any other state or country. 

Art. X. — Of the Judicial Power. 

Section 1. The judicial power of this state shall be 
vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts 
as the General Assembly may, from time to time, or- 
dain and establish. 

Sec. 2. The several courts shall have such jurisdic- 
tion as may, from time to time, be prescribed by law. 
Chancery powers may be conferred on the Supreme 
Court, but on no other court, to any greater extent than 
is now provided by law. 

Sec. 3. The judges of the Supreme Court shall, in all 
trials, instruct the jury in the law. They shall also give 
their written opinion upon any question of law, when- 
ever requested by the governor, or by either House of 
the General Assembly. 

Sec. 4. The judges of the Supreme Court shall be 
elected by the two Houses in grand committee. Each 
judge shall hold his office until his place be declared 
vacant by a resolution of the General Assembly to that 
effect ; which resolution shall be voted for by a major- 
ity of all the members elected to the House in which it 
may originate, and be concurred in by the same majority 
of the other House. Such resolution shall not be en- 
tertained at any other than the annual session for the 
election of public officers ; and, in default of the pas- 
sage thereof at said session, the judge shall hold his 
place as herein provided. But a judge of any court 
shall be removed from office, if, upon impeachment, he 
shall be found guilty of any official misdemeanor. 

Sec. 5. In case of vacancy by death, resignation, re- 
moval from the state, or from office, refusal or inability 
to serve, of any judge of the Supreme Court, the office 
may be filled by the grand committee, until the next 



APPENDIX. 365 

annual election, and the judge then elected shall hold 
his office as before provided. Ill cases of impeachment, 
or temporary absence or inability, the governor may ap- 
point a person to discharge the duties of the office dur- 
ing the vacancy caused thereby. 

Sec. 6. The judges of the Supreme Court shall re- 
ceive a compensation for their services which shall not 
be diminished during their continuance in office. 

Sec. 7. The towns of New Shoreham and James- 
town may continue to elect their wardens as heretofore. 
The other towns, and the city of Providence, may elect 
such number of justices of the peace, resident therein, 
as they may deem proper. The jurisdiction of said 
justices and wardens shall be regulated by law. The 
justices shall be commissioned by the governor. 

Art. XI. — Of Impeachments. 

Section 1. The House of Representatives shall have 
the sole power of impeachment. A vote of two thirds 
of all the members elected shall be required for an im- 
peachment of the governor. Any' officer impeached 
shall thereby be suspended from office until judgment 
in the case shall have been pronounced. 

Sec. 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Sen- 
ate ; and, when sitting for that purpose, they shall be 
under oath or affirmation. No person shall be convicted 
except by vote of two thirds of the members elected. 
When the governor is impeached, the chief or presiding 
justice of the Supreme Court, for the time being, shall 
preside, with a casting vote in all preliminary questions 

Sec. 3. The governor, and all other executive and 
judicial officers, shall be liable to impeachment; but 
judgment in such cases shall not extend further than to 
removal from office. The person convicted shall, nev- 
ertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, 
according to law. 
31* 



366 APPENDIX, 



Art. XII..—- Of Education. 

Section 1. The diffusion of knowledge, as well as 
of virtue, among the people, being essential to the pres- 
ervation of their rights and liberties, it shall be the 
duty of the General Assembly to promote public schools^ 
and to adopt all means which they may deem necessary 
and proper to secure to the people the advantages and 
opportunities oi education. 

Sec. 2. The money which now is, or which may 
hereafter be, appropriated by law for the establishment 
of a permanent fund for the support of public schools^ 
shall be securely invested, and remain a perpetual fund 
for that purpose. 

Sec. 3. All donatio*ns for the support of public 
schools, or for other purposes of education, which may 
be received by the General Assembly, shall be applied 
according to the terms prescribed by the donors. 

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall malce all neces- 
sary provisions by law for carrying this article into 
effect. They shall not divert said money, or fund, from 
the aforesaid uses ; nor borrow, appropriate, or use the 
same, or any part thereof, for any other purpose^ under 
any pretence whatsoever. 

Art. XIII. — Of Amendments. 

The General Assembly may propose amendments to 
this constitution by the votes of a majority of all the 
members elected to each House. Such propositions for 
amendment shall be- published in the newspapers, anel 
printed copie-s of them shall be sent to the secretary of 
state, with the names of all the members who shall 
have voted thereon, with the yeas and nays, to all the 
town and city clerks in the state. The said propositions 
shall be, by said clerks, inserted in the warrants or 
notices by them issued, for wai'ning the next annual 



APPENDIX. 367 

41 

town and ward meetings, in April ; and the clerks shall 
read said propositions to the electors when thus assem- 
bled, with the names of all the representatives and sen- 
ators who shall have voted thereon, with the yeas and 
nays, before the election of senators and representatives 
shall be had. If a majority of all the members elected 
to each House, at said annual meeting, shall approve any 
proposition thus made, the same shall be published and 
submitted to the electors in the mode provided in the 
act of approval ; and if then approved by three fifths of 
the electors of the state present, and voting thereon in 
town and ward meetings, it shall become a part of the 
constitution of the state. 



Art. XIV. — Of the Adoption of this Con- 
stitution. 

Section 1. This constitution, if adopted, shall go 
into operation on the first Tuesday of May, in the year 
one thousand eight hundred and forty-three. The first 
election of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of 
state, attorney general, and general treasurer, and of 
senators and representatives under said constitution, 
shall be had on the first Wednesday of April next pre- 
ceding, by the electors qualified under said constitution ; 
and the town and ward meetings therefor shall be 
warned and conducted as is now provided by law. All 
civil and military ofiicers now elected, or who shall be 
hereafter elected, by the General Assembly, or other 
competent authority, before the said first Wednesday of 
April, shall hold their offices, and may exercise their 
po\yers, until the said first Tuesday of May, or until 
their successors shall be qualified to act. All statutes, 
public and private, not repugnant to this constitution, 
shall continue in force until they expire by their own 
limitation, or are repealed by the General Assembly. 
All charters, contracts, judgments, actions, and rights 



/ 

368 APPENDIX. 

# 

of action, shall be as valid as if this constitution had 
not been made. The present government shall exercise 
all the powers with which it is now clothed, until the 
said first Tuesday of May, one thousand eight hundred 
and forty-three, and until the government under this 
constitution is duly organized. 

Sec. 2. All debts, contracted, and engagements 
entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, 
shall be as valid against the state as if this constitution 
had not been adopted. 

Sec. 3. The Supreme Court, established by this con- 
stitution, shall have the same jurisdiction as the Supreme 
Judicial Court at present established ; and shall have 
jurisdiction of all causes which may be appealed to, or 
pending in the same ; and shall be held at the same 
times and places, and in each county, as the present 
Supreme Judicial Court, until otherwise prescribed by 
the General Assembly. 

Sec. 4. The towns of New Shoreham and James- 
town shall continue to enjoy the exemptions from mili- 
tary duty which they now enjoy, until otherwise pre- 
scribed by law. 

Done in convention at East Greenwich, this fifth day 
of November, 1842. 

James Fenner, President. 

Henry Y. Cranston, Vice President, 

Thomas A. Jenckes, ) Secretaries 
Walter W. Updike, \ ^^^"^^^^"^'^'^ 



